Cold as Fire
by Grace Musica
Summary: [COMPLETED 203] In an unexpected twist of fate, Hiei's buried past resurects itself, forcing everyone's favorite fire demon to face how events years ago turned him into a heartless demon. Is there still a chance he can change?
1. How Hiei and Kurama Met

Okay, before we begin, I'm just going to say that there WILL BE OOCness, especially involving Hiei, maybe a tiny bit with Kurama. But! Love makes you do crazy things, SO DON'T CHEW ME OUT ABOUT IT! *sigh*  
  
Also, I'm going to do this one a bit oddly. Until I say otherwise, it's going to be switching back and forth between Kurama telling the story to the past, making it realtime. Some of the flashbacks are part of the story Kurama is telling, part is just things that I though should be in the fic.  
  
Confused? Don't worry, I am too.  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter One  
How Hiei and Kurama Met  
* * * * *  
"Don't do it again!" Hiei shouted over his shoulder, storming out of the restaurant, either not noticing or not caring about the stares he was recieving. With their first target gone, the group shifted their eyes over to the victims of Hiei's rage, Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama, who had previously been enjoying lunch.  
  
"Is there a problem?" Kurama asked pleasantly, looking around at the staring masses.  
  
"Yeah, take a picture, it'll last longer," Kuwabara said, glaring. Everyone quickly went back to their plates.  
  
"Urameshi, what the hell did you do now?"  
  
Yusuke, now eighteen, sighed and slumped back in his seat in the booth. "Damnit, I was just trying to be nice. He's got such a stick up his ass about SOMETHING that both Kayko and I thought it would do him good to set him up on a date with one of her friends. Son of a bitch."  
  
"Oh," Kurama said under his breath, nodding and taking a sip of his drink.   
  
Kuwabara put his elbows on the table and leaned forward, looking at the former fox-spirit. "What's up?"  
  
Kurama sighed and put his glass down. Looking across the table at his two friends, he put out a question. "Have I ever told you exacally how Hiei and I met?"  
  
"No," Yusuke asked, still cross over Hiei's outburst. "And what does that have to do with anything?"  
  
"Everything."  
  
Kuwabara and Yusuke excanged skeptical looks. Kurama sighed. "You see, we met through a friend of both of ours. Tensi."  
  
"But that's a girl's name."  
  
Kurama nodded.  
  
Both boys raised their eyebrows. Now things were getting interesting. "So, Kurama," Kuwabara asked jokingly, "get any action?"  
  
Kurama scoffed. "I never thought of her that way. Our relationship was more brother-sister. You couldn't help but think of her one of two ways--as your sister or as... something else. I met her when she was fifteen, almost sixteen. She had met Hiei much earlier, when she was about seven."  
  
"Really? How?"  
  
Kurama looked a bit uncomfortable. "I'm not quite sure if Hiei would want me to tell you this story or not..."  
  
"Oh, come on!" Yusuke shouted, banging his fist on the table. A few people were beginning to stare again. "You can't just tell us a bit, then back off!"  
  
"Shh! Okay, okay!" Kurama folded his hands in front of him, leaning forward a bit. "Imagine back about 300 years, back when being a samauri was the goal of every young man in Japan. One of the best sword and Spirit Energy masters was a wizended old man by the name of Master Onizuka. His only son had married a fire demon--"  
  
"Wait, wait, wait," Yusuke interrupted. "He MARRIED a demon?"  
  
"And had children by her. Not all demons are evil, they just have different blood than humans. Anyway, as I was saying, Master Onizuka's only son had married a fire demon, who bore him five boys and one girl--Tensi.  
  
"Now, Tensi--with her half-demon blood--was a born fighter, much like her four older and one younger brothers. And due to the fact that she HAD five brothers, she had to learn how to defend herself, and learn quick. Now, don't get me wrong, her brothers loved her, but their mentality was that she was one of the guys. It didn't matter that she was a girl, they were going to train with her. So, ever since she could run, throw a punch, or swing a stick, she was sparring with her brothers.  
  
"Her grandfather, however, found out about it when she was five..."  
* * * * *  
A young boy, about fourteen, with strait black hair pulled back in a ponytail and bright green eyes, is charging at an older man, a wooden practice sword in his hand. A young girl, a dark-haired redhead with the same bright green eyes as her brother, sits watching the two, her knees drawn up around her chest.  
  
As the boy yells and swings his sword, his grandfather's coal black eyes snap open, and his own wooden sword flashing brown just barely in the field of vision. The stick goes flying from the younger's hands and he loses his footing and falls on his back. Before he can spring up, he finds a barrier of wood at his throat.  
  
"Give, boy?"  
  
The lad nods, eyes downcast. His elder sighs, removes the wooden blade from his throat and helps him to his feet. "Aki, you've got to practice. It's not going to fall from the sky and hit you on the head."  
  
"Grandpa, do you want this back?" Tensi walks up, holding out Aki's practice sword. Onizuka shakes his head and ruffles her hair.  
  
"Why don't you try your hand? I'll bet you can do better than your brother..."  
  
Aki's features darken at that, but he holds his togune and sits down in the place his sister had occupied earlier.  
  
In about a minute and a half, Tensi has her grandfather on his back, her brother's too-long sword at his throat, both hands gripping it fiercely. Onizuka laughed and pushed the sword easily away, and sat up. "Well, well, well, you should have told me about this! We'll just have to see what we can do about it."  
* * * * *  
"So, she became an expert swordswoman?" Kuwabara asked.  
  
Kurama nodded. "And, for some reason, she inherited more Spirit Energy from her bloodlines than any of her brothers. She could actually transform it into a very powerful kind of fire--it could burn cold as ice, or even underwater."  
  
"So, how did Tensi and Hiei meet?"  
  
"Now, that... That's a long story."  
* * * * * 


	2. A Lot Can Happen In Seven Years

And here we are, chapter two of... well, you'll have to stick with me and find that out, now, won't you? If you like what you've read so far, write the title down, don't forget it!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Two  
A Lot Can Happen in Seven Years...  
* * * * *  
"So? I've got plenty of time," Yusuke said, leaning back. Kuwabara nodded silently, agreeing.  
  
Kurama sighed and picked up his drink. How much should I tell? Hiei's going to kill me... However, he DID bring it on himself, making such a scene. And these two are going to know if I'm lying... Oh, Tensi, what should I do? He put his drink back down and continued.  
  
"Well, Hiei, as you know, is also a fire demon. And, as you know, he was born of ice demons. So, to protect both Hiei and themselves, and amid much heartbreak, his family was forced to... Not abandon him, but, you know, send him away."  
  
"Yeah, yeah, we know, we know. And Yukina's his little sister," Kuwabara put in.  
  
"So, he wandered around, basically looking for someone to take him in and hone his skills. And he ran across Onizuka. Or, more precisely, his granddaughter..."  
* * * * *  
If Hiei couldn't tell Spirit Energy, he never would have seen the girl. A tiny thing, unusually small for her age, was standing in a clearing, whirling a large blade around her head, eyes blindfolded, all alone in the deep of the forest. A child like that, all alone in a forest like this? What the hell?  
  
Quite suddently, Hiei found himself on his butt, staring down the wrong end of a sword. Well, the wrong end, if the point end is pointed at you. Shit, I didn't even see her move!  
  
Tensi reached up behind her head and ripped the blindfold off, her brilliant green eyes staring him down. "I should take your head off, sneaking up behind me like that."  
  
"I didn't mean to," Hiei replied, his voice going as cold as hers.  
  
"I'm sure," she said sarcastically, making Hiei wonder just how such a small child could make her voice so hard. "Hands where I can see them."  
  
"You haven't given me many other choices," Hiei replied coldly, complying with Tensi's command.  
  
Tensi looked at him again, tapping the tip of the sword on the underside of Hiei's chin, making him raise it. "Hm... You look as if you've got demon blood in you. What's your name?"  
  
"Hiei."  
  
"Mine's Tensi. Was I right?"  
  
Hiei barely inclined his head, signaling that she was right. Tensi grinned in triumph, removed the blade from Hiei's throat, stepped back a few steps, and rammed the end none to gently into the ground. "Hm, well... What should I do with you?" she asked herself walking back towards Hiei, who lowered his hands.  
  
"Let me go?"  
  
Tensi raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe... Or not."  
  
Hiei's eyes darted towards the sword, then he took off trying to get it.  
  
Unfortunately for him, Tensi got to it first.  
  
Moving just as quick, maybe even a bit quicker than, Hiei, Tensi bolted for the sword, yanked it out of the ground, turned on her heel and swung the sword. Hiei tried to duck, but Tensi managed to catch the side of his face with the flat of her broadsword, knocking Hiei off his feet and onto his side. He knelt back on his heels, put a hand to his mouth and came back with blood on his fingertips. He looked up just in time to see Tensi bring the hilt of the sword down on top of his head.  
  
Tensi sighed and blew a stray strand of her short hair out of her face as Hiei fell to the ground, unconcious. "Demons. Think they can do anything. Well, I'd better take him back to Grandpa Onizuka."  
* * * * *  
Kuwabara and Yusuke were rolling. "Hiei got his ass kicked by a seven-year-old? Priceless!" Yusuke managed to spit out, wiping tears from his eyes.  
  
Kurama chuckled himself at the mental image of the Hiei he knew now getting a beat down from a child. "Well, you must remember, Hiei was younger then, too. Not too terribly older than Tensi, maybe six, seven years her senior."  
  
"But still!"  
  
"I know, I know. Also, Tensi had a horrid temper. She could go from sweet to bitch and right back in no time flat."  
  
At that, the boys just started laughing even harder. "Of course! Hiei picked her out!"  
  
Finally, Yusuke and Kuwabara got ahold of themselves--well, enough to let Kurama contiune.  
  
"So, Tensi dragged an unconcious Hiei home--" Here, he was interrupted by Yusuke and Kuwabara's snickers. He paused, but the boys managed to control themselves and let him keep going. "--And he was taken in as Master Onizuka's pupil.  
  
"Now Tensi had an appropriate sparring partner."  
* * * * *  
An older pair faced each other. Tensi, now taller at the age of ten-and-a-half, was still weilding her broadsword, now not as huge to her. Hiei, at her opposite, has his own sword. Both were poised to fly at one another, each watching their fellow for some type of signal only they would be able to see.  
  
As if a bell went off that only they could hear, they rushed each other, blades swinging. Duck block, jab, the two weaved an intricate dance, trying both to and not kill one another.  
  
Five minutes, ten minutes--time stopped as their movements sped to such a pace that they became blurred. Tensi swung her blade, to find that Hiei, who had been in front of her just a few seconds before, was gone.  
  
--And found herself flat on her back, Hiei pinning her down with his own weight. She thrashed and discovered what it was like to be looking down the wrong end of a sword. DAMNIT! He's gotten ALOT faster than me!  
  
Hiei watched as first surprise then anger flashed in the half-demon's pretty green eyes. He felt her push her Spirit Energy up, and brought the blade down to a hair's-breath away from her neck. "Nope, think again."  
  
She did, and Hiei found a broadsword blade flat against the bare skin of his stomach. "You push down, and I push up."  
  
"You push up, and I push down."  
  
Tensi's eyes darkened with anger again, knowing that the match was his.  
  
"Okay, you two, that's enough!" Master Onizuka called from the sidelines. "Don't kill each other off yet!"  
* * * * *  
"Okay, so what happened after Hiei was taken in?" Kuwabara asked, still chuckling over Tensi knocking Hiei out.  
  
"When she was thirteen, Tensi's father died quite suddently of a heart attack. The entire family took it hard, but Tensi's mother took it the hardest, really. She killed herself within a week after her husband died. Tensi didn't take either death very well..."  
* * * * *  
It was pouring. Hiei felt like he was trying to walk though a waterfall. Logic was screaming at him to turn around, to go home, but he knew he had to find Tensi. He really had wished she hadn't ran out into the storm.  
  
He wandered the forest for his fellow student, occassionally calling out her name. He rubbed his hands together and blew on them in a futal attempt to warm them. Tensi would freeze if he didn't find her soon. And, considering the state of mind she had been in lately... She wouldn't care if she lived or died.  
  
He would, however.  
  
Finally, he found her. She was curled up in a ball under a bush in an attempt to get out of the rain, her wet, dark red hair plastered against her forehead. He knelt down and shook her gently, waking her. She opened the bright green eyes she and all her brothers had inherited from the mother, stared at him, trying to make her sluggish mind remember, then recognition flashed in her eyes and she threw her arms around his neck. "I'm s-so c-c-cold, Hiei. S-so c-cold."  
  
He knew it. He could feel her chilled skin through his cape, saw her blue lips chattering. He opened the front of his cape and wrapped her up in it, pressing her chilled flesh to his own, trying to warm her with his own body heat. She didn't protest, instead she put her head on his shoulder and started sobbing. Hiei surprised himself by rocking her back and forth and stroking her wet hair. "It'll be all right, Ten, shh, don't cry."  
  
Eventually, Hiei realized that she wasn't strong enough to walk back. So he surprised himself again by picking her up in his arms and beginning the long trek back.  
* * * * *  
"Now, Master Onizuka ws the sole guardian of his six grandchildren. He promptly semi-panicked and hired this old lady to watch Tensi, a lady by the name of Akuma. And she was horrible to Tensi, just horrible..."  
* * * * *  
"GIRLS DON'T FIGHT!"  
  
An elderly woman had Tensi by the shoulders and was shaking her violently. She raised a hand and slapped the child across the face. Tensi let her do it, bitting her lip against the pain.  
  
This act angered Akuma. She began slapping Tensi over and over and over. "Cry, damn you! CRY!"  
  
But Tensi just couldn't bring herself to do it. She had always been taught not to cry, not to show any weakness to anyone considered an enemy, and especially to never hit anyone who was weaker than herself. Akuma, fed up, threw the child onto the floor, turned and left the room.  
  
She came back with a wooden staff...  
* * * * * 


	3. But Even More In Two

I keep forgetting to post these chapters! You see, I have to type this all in one go, or else I'll taper off and it'll end up unfinished... plus, I like knowing how it ends when you don't! Just kidding, just kidding... Although, it is nice... But on with the fic!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Three  
. . . But Even More In Two.  
* * * * *  
"She beat her?" Kuwabara asked, breathlessly.  
  
Kurama nodded and picked up his glass again. "Among other things."  
  
Yusuke and Kuwabara exchanged looks while Kurama took a sip.  
  
"Are you talking about what I think you're talking about?" Yusuke asked, leaning across the table.  
  
"We're not to what you think I'm talking about just yet. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway, if Tensi didn't think things could get any worse, they did. As a required part of his training, Hiei was required to leave for at least one year and roam the island, helping out whoever he saw in need in whatever way possible. Master Onizuka's master had done the same thing, and the old man thought it would do the demon good. With Hiei gone, Tensi began to fear that Akuma would kill her."  
* * * * *  
"Hiei, please take me with you!"  
  
Tensi was on her knees, one of his hands in both of hers. Hiei was finishing packing clothes into a small bag.  
  
"Tensi, I can't!"  
  
"Why? Why can't you? Please, Hiei, please!"  
  
Hiei sighed. The two of them had been doing this for well over twenty minutes, and, frankly, he was getting sick of it. "You must stay here, finish up your training, and your grandfather would kill me if I took his only granddaughter!"  
  
But if I stay here, I could die, too... "Hiei, PLEASE!"  
  
"No, Tensi!" Hiei yanked his hand free. "Why do you want to leave so badly?"  
  
Tensi looked away, ashamed to tell Hiei about what Akuma had done to her. She was still nursing some of the more serious bruises.  
  
Hiei looked down at her, realizing that something had gone wrong. Then, he noticed a dark red stain on the top of her head--and it was definately NOT the color of her hair.  
  
"How did THIS happen?" Hiei put his hands on the side of her head. She began to try and break free, but Hiei didn't let go. "Stop moving." As Tensi complied, he parted her hair gently, revealing a large gash on the top of her head. It was just beginning to heal over. He touched it gently, making her inhale sharply. "Sorry."  
  
"It's okay."  
  
"Who did this?"  
  
"No one! I, I... I fell."  
  
Hiei shook his head. He knew she was lying, but he didn't say anything. When Tensi didn't want you to know something, you didn't know, period. "You should put something on that, you know."  
  
Tensi rolled her eyes. She hated it when he got all overprotective, like her brothers. "Maybe you should kiss it and make it better," she replied sarcastically.  
  
"Hm..." Deciding to startle her, he leaned over and placed a series of feather-soft kisses on the top of her head. When he was finished, Tensi looked up at her with those big, green eyes of hers.  
  
"Hiei? What the--"  
  
She was cut off as Hiei pressed his lips to hers gently. They pulled apart, looking at each other. Tensi ran a hand through Hiei's hair and pulled him towards her again. Their lips met again, and they pulled each other close. Finally, they pulled apart.  
  
"Please, take me with you, Hiei."  
  
Hiei sighed. "Ten, so much could happen to you out there... You'd be safer if you just stayed here."  
  
"Hiei, please, please, take me with you!"  
  
"Why are you pushing this? You know I'm comming back."  
  
"I know, but please--"  
  
"Tensi, if I take you with me, who knows what might happen to you!"  
  
Tensi stiffened. "Are you saying that I'd just be dead weight? That I won't be able to defend myself?"  
  
"Well... Yeah."  
  
Tensi suddently reared her hand back and slapped him hard across the face. "You are so pig-headed, Hiei!" she shouted, pushing him away and standing.  
  
"What the hell was that for?!" Hiei yelled back, standing himself.  
  
"What do you mean, 'what the hell was that for?'?! You should know perfectly well, and don't act like you don't," she snapped back, folding her arms across her chest.  
  
"Ten..."  
  
"Don't you 'Ten' me, you bastard!"  
  
At that, Hiei went cold. His whole body went rigid, and Tensi knew she had gone way too far. But she was so wound up, she found that she didn't care. Hiei quickly finished packing his bag, picked it up, and slung it over his shoulder. He grabbed his sword and made his way for the door, feeling the anger that Tensi radiated.  
  
"I hate you, Hiei."  
  
He paused at the door. "Likewise."  
  
With that, he vanished.  
* * * * *  
"Ouch, harsh." Yusuke slumped back in his seat and took a sip from his glass. "That had to hurt."  
  
"In more ways than one. With Hiei gone, Master Onizuka began concentrating on his granddaughter. She flew through her training, finishing just after her sixteenth birthday. With Tensi finished, he could work his five grandsons--Aki, Kage, twins Ryu and Shiro, and the youngest of the six, Kori--in relative peace, without worrying about Tensi getting scarred up or anything. He usually took the five boys out into the forest for many days at a time.  
  
"This made Tensi's life a living hell, with her stuck with Akuma.  
  
"Fortunately, the day I met Tensi was also the day that Akuma decided that the girl needed to learn a lesson."  
* * * * *  
"Get AWAY from me, you slimy, dirty, son of a bitch! Go and take a bath, if you want someone to even THINK about wanting you. Hey! HEY! GET OFF ME!"  
  
Kurama couldn't help but follow the voice. It was a girl, he knew that, and the power in her voice made it apparent that she was used to getting her way. He transformed from his human form to his fox one, making it easier for him to track her, and whoever was with her--a human male, whose scent didn't make him comfortable. Humans may be an inferior species, but still... Rape is just sick.  
  
"Ouch, hey, you bitch! Put that fucking stick down and behave, before I have to get rough with you!" came a deep man's voice came, closer now, along with the 'thud' of something striking skin.  
  
Finally, finally, Kurama found her--Tensi, a rope tied around her wrists, binding them together, was fighting back a large, pot-bellied man with ragged hair and a general bad look around him. She had a fallen tree branch in her hands, using it as a sword.  
  
Suddenly, the man growled low in his throat and drew a real sword. He promptly swung it, neatly slicing the dead stick in two. Tensi looked at the small bit she had left in surprise, made a split decision, and threw it at the man, making him duck it. With him distracted, she jumped as high as she could, trying to reach the safety of the tree foliage, but gravity and her height were against her; she managed to make it just barely, but her body was stretched out, feet dangling, as if she were tied to a rack.  
  
As she tried to curl herself up, she felt two rough hands grab at her ankles. She lashed out with her feet, but she couldn't free them. The man laughed roughly. "I've got you now, you half-blooded abomination. I wonder if someone with dirty blood like yourself makes a fuck more interesting..." He laughed again, and started to run his hands up her legs, aiming for what was under her skirt.  
  
He never found out, however, as Kurama ran out from the bush, transforming into his human form and landing a flying kick to the man's head. Tensi, not knowing what was going on, only knew that the man's hands were gone and flipped up into the trees. She peered down through the leaves, and met Kurama's eyes. A demon... He looks a bit like Momma did.  
  
"Come down, girl. I won't hurt you, I promise."  
  
Tensi jumped down, an act that surprised Kurama. So trusting... Human... But, what was that about being half-blooded? He crossed the space that was between them and began to untie her hands. She stood quite still as he did so.  
  
Poor girl... All those bruises! In the cold winter weather, her white skin was showing her many bruises darker and worse than they in all actuality were. "Are you all right?"  
  
Tensi grinned. "I am now, thank you."  
* * * * * 


	4. Hiei's Return

And I think I'll be nice. I've got a football game to go to in about three hours, so I'll be nice while I can... Let the Bitch reign after I leave!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Four  
Hiei's Return  
* * * * *  
"So you saved her!" Kuwabara sighed.  
  
"Yes, thankfully. After that, we became very close friends. Tensi managed to... pursuade Akuma to leave the house... quite suddently... and without a trace..." Kurama grinned inwardly. The bitch deserved it, too.  
  
"Okay, fox-boy, keep going, keep going..."  
  
Kurama rolled his eyes at Yusuke's comment, but didn't say anything about it. "When Tensi was eighteen, Master Onizuka finally passed on, leaving Aki to watch his younger brothers and sister. The family sat down and decided that the boys would leave to do whatever they wanted. Even Kori, at seventeen, left. Tensi was allowed to either keep the house, or sell it and move, whatever she chose to do. She decided to keep the house, and not too long after the boys had left, Hiei came back."  
* * * * *  
Tensi and Kurama were having lunch. The two weren't exacally living together per se; however, Kurama was beginning to find himself calling the Onizuka house home.  
  
Suddenly, Tensi's head snapped up, listening intently. Kurama had learned in the two years that he had known her that Tensi had exceptionally good hearing with her slightly pointed demon ears. He went quiet, listening too. As a cool breeze came through the window and hit his face, he sniffed instinctively.  
  
The two looked at each other.  
  
"Blood."  
  
"Hiei!"  
* * * * *  
Yusuke raised an eyebrow. "He only came back because he got the shit beat out of him?"  
  
"Yes and no. He had come to pay his respects to Master Onizuka, but wasn't planning on staying. Tensi and I found him passed out from lack of blood--he was an awful mess, too--we brought him back home, and Tensi brought him round. She took excelent care of him, often going without food or sleep to see him though his fever. When it broke, I don't think I'd ever seen her so happy."  
  
"What happened to him?"  
  
"He never said, but I think I know what happened. The way Hiei was when you met him, Yusuke, a murdering, human-controlling thief... He hated those kinds of demons."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Just over time, he turned into one of them. Before he turned into that, however, he used to kill demons like that. Tried to change the world, then lost his cause to fight."  
  
"Oh." The two sat quietly, thinking about what Kurama had said. "What happened when Hiei got well?"  
  
"Of course, they remembered their last words to one another. So they began a very strained friendship, neither wanting to say anything to make the other blow up. Finally, I had had enough and got the hell out of there."  
  
"What happened after you left?"  
  
"What do you think?"  
* * * * *  
Hiei and Tensi were eating breakfast in relative scilence, watching each other when the other wasn't looking. They were both afraid to say anything; an argument they had had last night was still threatening to rain on today, too.  
  
Trying to show him a kind gesture, Tensi stood, took Hiei's empty cup, and refilled it. She set it down in front of him, and he grabbed her wrist. She looked at him sharply. "You're not a servant, Tensi."  
  
"I know," she replied, getting a bit defensive. "I was just trying to be nice..."  
  
The two were frozen, Hiei's hand still on Tensi's wrist. He put his other hand on her cheek. "Is it always going to be like this between us?" he asked her quietly.  
  
Tensi swallowed, looked away, then she met his eyes again. "Oh, gods, I hope not."  
  
With that, Hiei pushed his chair back from the table and pulled Tensi onto his lap and into his arms in one smooth movement. She pressed her lips against his, her arms encircling his neck. Hiei teased her lips open with his togune, and darted it into her mouth, tasting her. Tensi stiffened slightly as he did this, but soon she was kissing him back, her togune meeting his.  
  
This was the moment when Kurama chose to walk in the door.  
  
The two fire demons looked up at their friend as he opened the door. Kurama looked at both of them, Hiei's eyes flashing with anger and Tensi turning nearly as red as Hiei's eyes [M/N: yes, yes, Kou--a la David]. He threw up his hands. "I'll come back later..."  
* * * * *  
Yusuke and Kuwabara were rolling again. "YOU WALKED IN ON THEM!?"  
  
Kurama scratched the back of his head, chuckling a bit. "Yeah. How was I to know that they were kissing? The last time I had seen them together, they were at each other's throats, not down them!  
  
"And that didn't change much, either. Constantly at each other's throats. And Tensi's moods were like the weather--nice one minute, stormy the next."  
* * * * *  
"Damnit, Hiei! I'm fine! Put me down!"  
  
"Okay. Your wish is my command."  
  
Tensi closed her eyes as she felt herself falling, expecting to come in contact with the hard wood floor, but instead finding herself buried in the blankets. Her bedroom. "HIEI!"  
  
"You said put you down. You never said where."  
  
"You know what I meant!" Tensi hissed though her teeth, kicking her feet as Hiei reached out for them. "I said I'm fine!"  
  
"And I saw your ankle give out on you for no reason. Stay still and let me look." He kissed her gently. "Please?"  
  
Tensi sighed and leaned back. "You're not going to take no for an answer, anyway."  
  
"I love it when you're angry," Hiei said off-handedly. He flipped the boot off her right foot, took her foot and twisted it this way and that way. "Does that hurt?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Are you lying?"  
  
Tensi sighed. "Yes," she replied cynically. "Because the answer you want to hear is that I'm a weak woman who can't do anything for herself."  
  
"Hm, you've got me pinned," Hiei replied, placing a kiss on Tensi's instep.  
  
"Yes I do." Tensi pulled her foot away from Hiei's hands and crossed her arms, ill-tempered. "I ought to hit you."  
  
"Please don't. I don't find it enjoyable."  
  
"I do." She landed a light slap on his forearm, gave Hiei an evil grin, then pulled him down onto the bed. "Hiei, I'm just soooooooooooooo tired. Can we take a nice, long nap?"  
  
Hiei just stared at her, watching as Tensi's smile turned from evil to seductive. "I somehow get the feeling that sleeping is the furthest thing from your mind, Ten."  
* * * * *  
He had, Hiei reflected much, much later, had been most correct. Sleep had been so far from Tensi's mind that it was in the predawn dark that the half-demon had finally slid into slumber. Hiei, however, found himself wide awake, staring up at the ceiling.  
  
A cool breeze wafted through the open bedroom window, softly stirring the curtains and making Hiei shiver a bit. He felt Tensi do the same in her sleep, and looked over at her as she instinctively moved closer to the other heat source in the bed. He pulled her into his arms, and the girl snuggled even closer, her face pressing into the crook of his neck. Moving carefully, so as not to awaken her, he turned to his side and propped himself up on his elbow, looking down at Tensi's sleeping form. She looked so peaceful and... non-leathal... in her sleep. Hiei shook his head to himself as he recalled the rath she had leased on him earlier. He traced her features with the back of his hand, pulling back a bit as she stirred in her sleep. His hand quested lightly down her neck, where he noticed angry red bite marks here and there, created while both of them were caught up in the heat of the moment. He bent his head to kiss the marks gently, as if he could make up for the pain he had inflicted.  
  
As he kissed a mark under her ear, he felt Tensi stir awake. She pulled his face towards her own and gave him a hot, opened-mouthed kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pulled her closer to him. The two of them broke off and lay in each other's arms, just taking the simple pleasure in being close to one another.  
  
Hiei touched the marks on her skin again. "I got careless."  
  
"And I could care less," Tensi replied, kissing him again. She failed to smother a yawn, and Hiei found himself doing the same. The half-demon laid her head down on her lover's chest, and the two fell asleep in each other's arms.  
* * * * *  
Yikes! Good thing the Webmaster has outlawed NC-17 stories, ne? As Kou once said, 'Methinks they need to sleep in different COUNTRIES tonight!' 


	5. Goodbye, Hello

Chapter five, chapter five! Celebration!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Five  
Good-bye, Hello  
* * * * *  
"How serious were they?"  
  
Kurama looked up at Yusuke, who apparently was really getting into the story.  
  
"They were pretty serious. Extremely, in fact."  
* * * * *  
"Kurama!"  
  
Kurama hugged his half-demon friend. It was the only way he could ever get her off his neck. He looked around. "Where's Hiei?"  
  
"Oh, he's gone out... hunting, I think. Oh! But I have something I want to show you! Come in, come in!"  
  
Kurama raised an eyebrow. Tensi was unusually hyper this morning. "Ten? No more sugar in the mornings."  
  
Tensi laughed. "Happy, not hyper. Sit down, sit down! I've got some news."  
  
Kurama did as he was told, sitting cross-legged on the table. Tensi giggled and held out her hand, which Kurama took without really paying attention... Until something cold and hard came in contact with his fingers.  
  
His eyes widened and he looked down at her hand. A tiny ring with a dark garnet stone was on the ring finger of her left hand--an engagement ring. He looked back up at her and she grinned at him. "Surprise!"  
  
"Tensi! That's wonderful, congratulations!" He caught her up in a brotherly hug, then held her out at arm's length. "So, when's the wedding?"  
  
Tensi rolled her eyes. "Whenever I can track down my brothers. But if they don't come back fast enough to suit me..." She grinned wickedly.  
* * * * *  
"Apparently, they didn't get married," Yusuke pointed out.  
  
"Good observation."  
* * * * *  
Kurama shivered. Hm... It feels like someone just stepped on my grave... He looked around, sniffing fox-like, then shrugged his shoulders when he got nothing. It's proably just a figment of my imagination.  
  
He went back to cooking dinner. He hadn't found either Tensi or Hiei around when he got to the house, so he decided to cook dinner for them to be nice.  
  
Quite abruptly, Hiei burst in the door, Tensi in his arms. He jumped to find Kurama in the house, relaxed just a bit when he realized who it was, and took off into the back.  
  
Confused, Kurama looked after the two, then went to the door and looked out of it. I am missing something.  
  
Something shiny on the floor caught the theif's eyes. He bent down to pick it up.  
  
It was Tensi's ring.  
* * * * *  
"What happened?"  
  
"Tensi and Hiei had been out earlier all that day. They weren't being careful near the edge of a cliff when the side gave way, taking Tensi with it. She fell a long way down, hit her head, then got buried with a good twenty pounds of gravel."  
  
Kuwabara winced in sympathy. "Ouch."  
  
"More than you know."  
* * * * *  
"I'm sorry, Hiei."  
  
Hiei brushed a strand of Tensi's hair out of her face. "For what, love?"  
  
"I... I lost..."  
  
"Lost what? Your ring? I thought I told you, Kurama found it."  
  
"Not the ring, I lost... I lost..." Tensi found she couldn't say the words. She took Hiei's hand and put it on her stomach. "I lost it. Our baby."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I lost it! I'm so, so sorry, Hiei. I'm so sorry..." She broke down crying. Hiei took her in his arms and rocked her back and forth until she fell asleep.  
* * * * *  
The two boys were shocked into scilence for one of the few times Kurama had known. "That's horrible," Kuwabara finally declaired.  
  
Kurama nodded in agreement. "Hiei took that one pretty hard. He took Tensi's even worse."  
  
"She died too?!"  
  
Kurama nodded again. "Poor girl. I think her injuries and the loss of her baby got to her so much, she just gave up. The two of us gave her a proper funeral--well, as proper as we knew and could--and left. We've never been back. And Hiei's been cold towards everyone except a choice few since then, and never to any woman. Tensi's death is what I think pushed him over the edge."  
  
Yusuke nodded to himself. So THAT'S why he got pissed.  
  
Kuwabara was shaking his head to himself. "That's just horrible, just horrible," he kept repeating.  
  
"She was an exceptional girl," Kurama said. "I'm glad she was a part of my life, and I miss her. Ah, well, she's proably having a party with her parents and grandparents, and I don't grudge her the celebration. Hell, I hope she's having fun."  
* * * * *  
[M/N: OTHERWISE! hee hee, otherwise.... don't you get it? back in the first chapter... 'until I say otherwise...'... nevermind. shut up, Kou. just shut up.]  
  
Hiei looked up as the sky ripped open, pelting those below with rain. He stopped, still looking up, as the humans around him ran for cover from the downpour. Rainy days always made him think about Tensi. They had always been her favorite days, and when they were together, they had been his favorite, too.  
  
Therefore, it had been fitting that the day she died it had been raining. As on the day of her makeshift funeral.  
  
Hiei bowed his head, dug his hands into his pockets and continued on his way. In the cloth confinement, his fingers came in contact with Tensi's engagement ring. She had given it back to him just before she died.  
* * * * *  
"Hiei, I'm dying, aren't I?"  
  
Hiei looked down at Tensi, holding her hand. "I'm not going to lie to you. Yes, Ten, you're dying."  
  
Tensi nodded to herself. She slipped off her ring and put it in Hiei's hand.  
  
"Ten..."  
  
"Shh, Hiei. Take it. Where I'm going, I'm not going to need it. Keep it, and someday give it to someone else."  
  
"Tensi, don't talk like that--"  
  
"Hiei! I have to say this. Please, listen. I want you to take it, keep it safe, and find someone else you love just as much as me and give it to her. I won't hold it against you."  
  
Hiei looked down at the tiny circle of gold with the red stone on it. He closed his hand as he felt Tensi's Spirit Energy slipping away.  
  
"Ai shiteru, Hiei. I always will."  
* * * * *  
Hiei's fist clenched with the ring inside it. Gods, I miss you, Tensi.  
  
Feet were the only thing in his field of vision that he could see. A pair of shiny black shoes walked up and stopped right in front of him. Hiei paused, then moved to the right, as to go around the shoe's owners, but the person stepped to the right as well. Hiei moved to the left, and the shoes moved to the left. This continued for about half a minute, until Hiei finally snapped his head up, angry.  
  
--And met a pair of smiling, bright green eyes.  
  
"Tensi?"  
  
"Hello, Hiei." 


	6. Tensi's Back!

Since I got three reviews in under 24 hours of posting last chapter... VICTORY CHAPTER!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Six  
Tensi's Back!  
* * * * *  
Tensi grinned, rain dripping off her still-short dark red hair. "I've missed you, Hiei."  
  
"But-but-but you died," Hiei insisted. "I watched you!"  
  
Tensi reached over and touched Hiei's cheek. "I know. But I've been given a second chance."  
  
Hiei turned his head away. "Demons don't get second chances. Not even half-bloods."  
  
She turned his face towards hers. "Some of us do. I had to beg for over two hundred seventy-five years every day for mine, and even still, the only way I managed to come back was by pulling some connection strings... And you got yours by helping out Yusuke."  
  
"You know about that?"  
  
"Of course. I've been working for the past six years as a Spirit Detective, since I was twelve... Well, in this life."  
  
Hiei looked at her, confused. Tensi smiled at him. "I've been reborn, a bit like Kurama. I've another lifetime to live out now. We've time now."  
  
Hiei put his hand over Tensi's, then pulled her into his arms. "It's not enough time. It'll never be enough time."  
  
"Hiei..."  
  
He covered her mouth with his, and no words were said between the two for a long time.  
* * * * *  
"So, you've been living among the lowly humans?" Hiei asked mockingly as Tensi was looking for the key to her front door.  
  
"Yes, and it's been absolutly horrible," Tensi replied in a similar tone. "They're not as bad as you would think, Hiei."  
  
Hiei grinned a bit to himself. "I know."  
  
"My parents here are very kind... Well, my mother and step-father. My father lived on the other side of the island up until he moved to America about four, five years ago. They divorced when I was about five, and I call my step-father Dad... And I have a little half-brother, Kori." She looked over at him and smiled. "Mom and Dad let me name him."  
  
"Apparently. The youngest was always your favorite."  
  
Ignoring the last comment, she finally found her key and started unlocking the door. "In this life, I've taken the name Tetsewon Sakura. I took my mother's new last name when she remarried." She pulled her key out of the keyhole and kissed him quickly. "Behave, please..."  
  
"When don't I?"  
  
"Do I have to answer that?"  
  
"Get inside."  
  
Tensi rolled her eyes and opened the door. "Mom! Dad! I'm home!" She kicked off her shoes, put on her house slippers, and threw a pair at Hiei. Tensi wandered from the room, calling for her parents as Hiei removed his own shoes and followed after her silently.  
* * * * *  
All talk ceased as Hiei entered the living room. Mr. and Mrs. Tetsewon were sitting on the couch, little Kori, with his brilliant blue eyes and strait black hair, in his mother's lap and Tensi standing in front of the three explaining. She looked over her shoulder and grinned a bit.  
  
Until Kori decided to launch himself from his mother's lap and charge at Hiei. Producing a small plastic sword from--somewhere, Hiei didn't notice where--he attacked his elder with zeal, while Hiei just stared down at him. Finally, after about half a minute of this, Kori decided that Hiei was all right, and stepped back. The little dark-haired boy looked at him skeptically. Then-- "Are you Sakura's boyfriend?"  
  
"Kori! Behave!" Mrs. Tetsewon cried, clapping her hands.  
  
"Does she have a thing for you?" Kori continued, ignoring his mother.  
  
"Kori!"  
  
Mr. Tetsewon chuckled at his wife and son and went back to reading his newspaper. "Not getting involved, not getting involved, not getting involved..."  
  
Tensi just groaned and buried her head in her hands.  
* * * * *  
"I'm sorry about Kori," Tensi appologized. The two were walking side by side down the street after lunch at the Tetsewon's, which had been much to Tensi's embarrasment.  
  
"It's alright. He's little, he doesn't know any better."  
  
Tensi grinned a little and reached for his hand. Hiei noticed this and put both of his hands in his pockets, teasing her. Tensi just raised her eyebrow, moved closer, and put her hand in his pocket. Their eyes met, and their lips followed suit in a gentle kiss, which quickly turned heated.  
  
But, of course, just as it was getting good...  
  
"Hiei! First you yell at me for setting you up with a girl, and the next thing I know, you're saying hello to another's tonsils!"  
  
They jumped apart, startled, Tensi looking away from the voice in embarrasment. Hiei turned to Yusuke, who was flanked (in a sense) by Kurama and Kuwabara. "Who I kiss is no concern of yours, Urameshi," he replied coldly. He grabbed Tensi under her elbow and tugged a bit. "Now, if you would KINDLY excuse us--"  
  
"Oh, come on! At least show us her face, Shorty!" Kuwabara called out.  
  
"Yes, any girl who can tame you is very special indeed," Kurama noted, looking at the figure who had her back to him. She was as short as Hiei, with her hair cut up to around her ears, her stance reminding him of someone... He saw her head turn a little to the side and nod to Hiei, who didn't look too pleased at the moment.  
  
Tensi did an abrupt about face. Kurama just stared at her, blinking. She flashed him a smile, then bowed at Yusuke and Kuwabara. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you."  
  
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait." Yusuke held up his hands and looked down at the girl. "You know about us?"  
  
"Of course, Urameshi Yusuke. And Kuwabara Kazuma. I'm a Spirit Detective too."  
  
Yusuke and Kuwabara exchanged bewildered looks. "I was told their was only one Spirit Detectve here on Earth."  
  
"Koenma either was not told or forgot that I was a Spirit Detective. It was one of the terms of my return."  
  
"Return?"  
  
"Yes, return. I died a long time ago. My name is Onizuka Tensi, cousin to Koenma, Prince of Hell."  
* * * * * 


	7. A Night On The Town

And here it is... Another chapter... This chapter and last chapter really show how much Hiei and Tensi really love another. Well, anyway, you don't want to hear me blab! On with the fic!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Seven  
A Night On The Town  
* * * * *  
"C-c-cousin?" Yusuke stammered.  
  
Tensi nodded. "From my father's side. It's not too terribly close. I think my umteenth-great grandmother was his umteenth-great grandfather's sister. But I could be wrong." She looked from Yusuke to Kuwabara, with his jaw dropped to the gound. "Is there a problem?"  
  
Kuwabara opened and closed his mouth, not making any noise.  
  
Tensi raised an eyebrow. "Do this often?"  
* * * * *  
Tensi lay in bed, listening though the thin walls, waiting for her parents to shuffle off to bed. She could hear them clicking off the lights in the kitchen and the living room. They moved quietly enough to not wake Kori in the next room, and shut their door. She was free.  
  
Quickly and quietly, she changed out of her night clothes into a pair of jeans and a zip-up hooded shirt. She crossed to the window, opened it, and began to climb out. There was a tree next to her window that had come in handy on a few occassions involving her Spirit Detective work.  
  
"Sneaking out the window STILL? Ten, come on."  
  
The voice scared the hell out of her. She lost her balance and fell, somehow managing not to hit the window or the ledge and landed neatly on her feet on the tree branch closest to her window. She looked up the branch and glared at Kurama, who was leaning casually against the trunk. "Damnit, Kurama! And you're still scaring the hell out of me!"  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"That's none of your damn business. And what the hell are you doing here, you damn stalker?!"  
  
"Oh, I see that three hundred years hasn't damaged that togune of yours one bit." He grinned. "We've both missed you."  
  
"Gods, I've missed you guys too!" Tensi ran up the branch and hugged Kurama. "A red-head 'bishonen'? Kurama!" She tugged his hair jokingly. "Where'd your blue hair go to?! And your ears!"  
  
Kurama lightly tapped Tensi on the head, causing her to smile. They gave each other a high five. "Oh, yeah, partners in crime, back in action!"  
  
"Kurama, if you're done with Tensi, I wouldn't mind taking up some of her time..."  
  
The two looked up to see Hiei strattling two thin branches, close to the top of the tree.  
  
"Oh, so THAT'S what you've been waiting for..." Kurama winked playfully at Tensi, who was grinning like a fool. "I'll see you tomorrow."  
  
With that, the two friends split ways for the night, Kurama jumping down, Tensi scaling the tree. When she reached the top, she smiled at Hiei, who faintly returned it. Tensi sighed. "Hiei, you're not STILL jealous of Kurama, are you?"  
  
Hiei's response was scilence.  
  
Tensi shook her head as a gust of wind ruffled their hair. As the wind died down as suddently as it had started, the half demon brushed a few strands of hair out of her green eyes. She met Hiei's eyes, and they both grinned.  
  
"Come on, I know somewhere where we can go."  
  
"I have to be back by five-thirty."  
  
"That I don't think I'll be able to do. Tonight, you're mine."  
* * * * *  
"Hm... I don't remember this..." Tensi leaned up and kissed the closed lid of Hiei's third eye.  
  
"That would be because I didn't have it then," Hiei replied sarcastically. "I stole it to find my little sister."  
  
"Ah, yes, the young Yukina," Tensi said wistfully, sighing as if she had heard something romantic. "The pride and joy of Kuwabara Kazuma's heart."  
  
Hiei's features darkened at that. Tensi grinned a bit and kissed him gently. Hiei put his arms around her and pulled her closer to him, as their togunes danced lazily. They pulled apart and Tensi sighed contently, resting her head on Hiei's chest. The two were lying on their backs way outside Toyko, out in the woods, watching the stars. "The stars look different now."  
  
Hiei looked up, staring at the stars, then realized that Tensi was right. "I guess I never noticed it."  
  
"You don't realize it because you've seen them change. You really have to go from one extreme to another to notice it. I haven't been able to see the stars this clearly for years."  
  
Hiei ran a hand though Tensi's hair and kept silent, taking pleasure in hearing her rambling voice.  
  
"They haven't changed too terribly much, however," Tensi continued. "And I'm sure they have a good reason for changing."  
  
Hiei was quiet for half a second after that. "We're not discussing the stars anymore, are we?"  
  
"No," Tensi replied, looking up at Hiei. "But it's fun to pretend that we are."  
  
"You talk too much."   
  
"Then shut me up."  
  
"As you wish," Hiei responded, shutting Tensi up with a kiss.  
  
Unfortunately, it didn't last long, as Tensi pulled back and looked into Hiei's eyes. "Really? Anything I wish?"  
  
Hiei grinned and, deciding to humor the girl, nodded.  
  
"Wow, that's a first," the girl laughed as she sat up. "You've lightened up, boy."  
  
"You're sounding like your grandfather, girl," the demon told her, following suit.  
  
Tensi looked over at Hiei and grinned. "That may be true, but my grandfather would NEVER let us do this."  
  
With that, she reached up, grabbed her zipper and tugged downwards.  
* * * * * 


	8. The Mission

I'm posting this chapter for lia-goddess, since she's so enthused about this story... And because KOU ISN'T READING THIS. ::sticks out her togune at Kou:: You know I love you, Kou! But anyway, enough of me, get to the fic!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Eight  
The Mission  
* * * * *  
Tensi just barely made it in on time. She could hear her parents waking up down the hall as she climbed in though the window. She blew Hiei a kiss as she shut the window, changed clothes in record time, and had just laid down as if sleeping when her mother opened her bedroom door.  
  
"Sakura, come on, wake up, we've things to do today."  
  
Tensi groaned in disbelief after her mother left. "Not! Happening!" she muttered, throwing the covers over her head. "She said I had today free!"  
* * * * *  
Tensi found herself in downtown Toyko at midday with her mother. Tired, starving, and laden with bags and boxes, the half-demon reincarnate was trying to convince her elder to stop for lunch, or at least a rest.  
  
"Please, Mom, my stomach is about to cave in! Can we stop for SOMETHING?!"  
  
"Just a few more stores, Sakura, then we'll stop," Mrs. Tetsewon promised. Tensi rolled her eyes. Why did I have to be the daughter of a shop-a-holic? And why do I always voulenteer to carry her bags?! I'm half to blame here... She sighed. Dad's gonna blow his lid again when he sees all this shit.  
  
"Hurry along now, 'Kura-chan," her mother called out, using a nickname she'd used for years. It usually prompted an eye roll from Tensi. "The faster we move, the sooner we stop."  
  
For Tensi, moving quickly was no problem. She had managed to talk her mother into karate lessons a few years before, and practiced her other martial arts skills whenever she had time alone. And she had always been quick on her feet.  
  
However, it's really hard to move quickly and surely with a four-foot tower of boxes balanced right in front of your eyes. Especially on a crowded street.  
  
So, of course, Tensi bit the pavement, taking down another person with her. Both appologizing, they slowly rose to their feet. The half-demon bent to pick up her boxes, hearing her mother's approching footsteps and not looking at the person she had almost killed until he started helping her... And she caught a glimpse of bright red hair.  
  
Green eyes met green eyes and time stopped. Kurama! You stalker!  
  
Shut up! came the older brother tone he always used when with her. My human mother is here. Call me Suichi in front of her.  
  
And call me Sakura in front of mine. And you're still a stalker!  
  
"Well, well, well! If this isn't a startling surprise!" Tensi exclaimed, acting very surprised. "Suichi! Imagine running into you like this."  
  
"Indeed. 'Running into' is the phrase, isn't it Sakura?" Kurama replied smoothly, grinning a bit at Tensi's scowl. She picks up too many of Hiei's bad habits.  
  
"Do you know this boy, 'Kura?" Tensi's mother asked, looking from her daughter to the redhead in front of her.  
  
"Yes ma'am. Suichi's a friend of mine from school," the girl replied as Kurama's mother came up behind her son. The two older women introduced themselves to each other and began a polite conversation, allowing Kurama and Tensi to converse with each other privately in undertones.  
  
"Question: Do you know of Master Genkai?"  
  
"Know of her? Of course I do! I've been to her temple a few times myself, on the job, of course."  
  
"Good. Then half the battle's won. I need you to meet us there tonight."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"Yusuke's got a case, and he thought that you'd like to join us on this one."  
  
"Tell him thanks but no thanks. You know I like to run my own show."  
  
"Yes. Especially when you have an audience." He grinned at the look he got from his friend. "Come on, we could use you."  
  
"...I'll think about it," Tensi grudgingly replied as their human mothers wrapped up their conversation. Calling out good-byes, the two Tetsewons continued shopping, as Kurama and his mother continued on their way.  
  
Mrs. Tetsewon looked down at her short daughter. "Kura-chan, he's pretty cute, you know."  
  
"MOM!"  
  
However, Tensi couldn't resist looking over her shoulder. Not to get another look at Kurama.  
  
She felt as if she was being followed.  
* * * * *  
"Damnit! How long is she going to keep us waiting?" Yusuke's outburst was enough to disturb a few roosting birds in a nearby tree, and to earn a particularly scathing look from Hiei.  
  
"She'll come when she's ready," was all Hiei would volunteer.  
  
Krama, however, was more forthcoming. "She said she'd think about it. There's a good chance she won't come at all."  
  
"Well, if she's going to come, she'd better come soon," Yusuke grumbled, crossing his arms. "I hate waiting."  
  
"Well, then. Sorry to keep you," came a voice from the entranceway. Tensi moved towards the group on her own time, then stopped about five feet from them, where they could see her clearly. She was dressed in an old-fashioned swordfighting outfit; close-fitting pants, a lace-up pesant shirt under a stout leather jerkin, leather boots. Her hand was resting on the hilt of a broadsword, and a small bag hung from her swordbelt.  
  
"I almost didn't come, but I thought better of it," Tensi explained, looking Yusuke in the eye. "And I thought my parents would never go to sleep. After they finally dropped off, I had to run a few errands on the other side of the island." She gestured to her outfit, then drew her sword. It was showing neglect, but it was repairable. "This hasn't been cleaned in years. Why don't you start while I repair this?"  
  
Yusuke grinned. "Sounds like a plan."  
* * * * *  
The inside of the temple was soon filled with the scraping sound of metal on metal. Tensi sat a bit off to the side, filing her dull, rusted blade to a new point. She looked over at her four new teammates, eyebrows raised. "Well? I'm waiting, and I don't like to be kept waiting."  
  
Kurama shook his head. "Smart-ass..."  
  
Yusuke raised an eyebrow at the half-demon. "Why are you fixing that old thing? From what I've heard about you, you've enough Spirit Energy to hold your own."  
  
Tensi smiled half to herself, half to everyone else. "Actually, my half-and-half heritage has given me a type of hybrid magic--ranging from telepathy to conjuring." As if to prove a point, she cupped her hands in front of her and created a bright red ball of fire. Turning her hands out, she dispersed of the gathered Spirit Energy and picked up her file once again. "However, I prefer to do thing the hard way--by hand--for two reasons: One, I'm reminded of Grandfpa Onizuka, and how he achieved his level of power, and two--" here her smile broadened "I prefer to throw a punch at a guy instead of burning him to a crisp. It's funner, don't you agree?" She bent her head once again, returning to her labors.  
  
Yusuke grinned a bit. I think we'll get along... "Okay, the mission. Search and capture. Doesn't initally sound too hard, however.... It's not a demon."  
  
"Restless spirit?" Hiei inquired from his own dark corner.  
  
"You'd think so, but no. It's a human."  
  
Tensi left off her filing, leaning forward to look at her fellow Spirit Detective. "What's her name?"  
  
Yusuke blinked. "You sure it's a girl?"  
  
"I'd lay my life on it."  
  
Yusuke grinned at her a bit. "You're pretty good. She calls herself 'Kurai Maho'. Koenma tells me she's been giving him trouble for years." He looked over at Tensi, who had gone fairly white. "You know her or something?"  
  
Tensi leaned back. "Oh, no, no, I was thinking about someone else." She picked up her file again, picking up where she left off, and going at it with new zeal.  
  
"So... 'Kurai Maho', eh? Dark magic. Sounds like a cheap dial-a-phycic's name," Kuwabara declaired, crossing his arms.  
  
"Maybe, maybe not. We'll find out when we get there." Yusuke sighed and looked over at Tensi. "When can we expect your highness to be finished?"  
  
Tensi looked down the sword, checking it for flaws, then slid it into the scabbard. Putting it point-down, she pulled a strip of black leather from her pocket and started rebinding the hilt. "I'll be ready in ten minutes."  
  
"Good!" came a cheerful voice from the doorway. "I'll have enough time to fill you in on the details."  
  
"Botan!"  
  
The blue-haired girl waved at all five of them and smiled cheerfully. "Hey Tensi, how's Henageshi*?"  
  
Tensi grinned at the mention of her own Spirit World contact. "She's just fine. We're still kicking ass, taking names."  
  
Botan laughed. "You always did have a way with words, Onizuka."  
  
"But of course. Anyway, what do you mean, 'details'?" Tensi asked switching strait from small talk to business  
  
"You'll have to go through four levels to get to Kurai Maho. Each one has a different demon to get though, and they're each pretty tough."  
  
"Hm... One for each of us," Hiei mused to himself. "With Yusuke getting the leader."  
  
Yusuke looked over at Tensi, who was finishing binding up the hilt. "You alright with that? You've been flying solo for a good while."  
  
"I could care less," Tensi replied, tying the leather together. "As long as I get some action." She tossed her sword up into the air and caught it. "Ready?" She grinned as she caught the determined looks on each of the boy's faces. "Let's lock and load, gentlemen."  
  
"Wait! I'm not just here to be an informant!" Botan reached into her pockets and pulled out a tiny transparent crystal sphere. It was smoothly cut, flawlessly circular, and a suprisingly strong deep orange glow throbbed in the center.  
  
"Oh," Tensi sighed. "A Spirit Energy Fire Crystal. Where'd Koenma pull that one out from?"  
  
"It's directly from King Yama, actually, and it's on loan, so be careful with it." Botan handed the sphere to Yusuke, and the orange color grew stronger to a deep yellow.  
  
"What the hell?"  
  
"I thought they were just a rumor," Kurama muttered to himself. The two humans stared at him, and he conceeded to their silent demand. "Like Tensi said, it's a Spirit Energy Fire Crystal. It changed Spirit Energy into light energy, each flame unique to each person.. Very valuble and extrememly rare, I might add," he finished, drawing his knees up to his chest.  
  
"Well, I've done my part," Botan declaired, smiling and throwing a mock-salute. "Good luck, gentlemen. And madam," she added as an afterthought to Tensi.  
  
"Luck has nothing to do with anything, Botan." Tensi stood and placed her broadsword on her shoulder. "It's all skill."  
* * * * *  
*Henageshi is a Spirit World Guide in one of the Yu Yu Hakusho movies. 


	9. Level One Yosei

And I'll be nice and give you chaper nine. And thanks to everyone who's read and/or reviewed so far!  
* * * * *  
Cold As Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Nine  
Level One--Yosei  
* * * * *  
"Hm... Well, sure, it's got enough room, but just look at the location*!" Tensi joked as the five teammates looked up at the huge castle. They were in the Demon World, standing in front of the fortress that Kurai Maho had locked herself in.  
  
The four men just stared at their short female companion. She winced. "Oh, tough crowd, tough crowd."  
  
"Do you ever shut up?" Kuwabara asked irritably. "You've been rambling since we've left."  
  
"If I had stayed silent, the pressure would have killed us all. You're all too worried about this. Smiling won't kill you, you know."  
  
"Stop bickering," Kurama commanded quietly. "The queston is, how do we get in?"  
  
As if to answer his question, the heavy oak doors opened up. The five looked at each other. Yusuke put his hands in his pockets and entered, Kurama and Kuwabara following.  
  
"Hey, if it's that easy, can I get something to eat?" Tensi joked again, perking up a bit.  
  
"Come on," Hiei sighed, grabbing Tensi's hand and fair dragging her inside.  
  
Tensi looked back over her shoulder as she followed behind him.  
  
The feeling was back.  
* * * * *  
"So, they've teamed up?" Kurai Maho asked herself out loud. "What do you know. Five for five. Now this is an interesting fight."  
  
A small shadow flew in front of Kurai and knelt. "Milady, let me fight first," she insisted. "With my size, they'll be unable to see me."  
  
Kurai Maho was silent for a split second before making up her mind. "All right. Granted. Do not fail. You know the concequences for failure."  
  
"Yes, Milady."  
* * * * *  
The doors shut immediately behind the group. They looked back at the slam, then looked at each other.  
  
"So, who's up first?" Tensi asked nonchantally.  
  
"I'll go," Kurama volunteered, stepping forward and pulling out his Rose Whip.  
  
"Ah, so the great fox thief, Kurama shall be the first to die," came a female voice from the shadows.  
  
Tensi snapped her head around. "Behind us!"  
  
"Are you so sure?" came the voice again, from another end of the room.  
  
Kurama gritted his teeth. "She's either fast, or can throw her voice."  
  
"Maybe it's both, maybe it's neither..." came the voice once again, tauntingly. "And maybe it's time for you to DIE!"  
  
"You first," Kurama replied, his whip lashing out and wrapping around the voice's owner. He pulled the whip end towards him and grabbed the tiny demon.  
  
"Let me go!" the tiny female replied, struggling to get free. Her blonde hair tumbled down over Kurama's fingers, and golden--wings?!--beat against his palm. She bit at one of his fingers, causing him to drop her in shock. She hovered about four inches in front of his eyes.  
  
"A fairy?" Kuwabara asked, shocked.  
  
"My name's Yosei," she snapped back. "And you cheated!"  
  
"Well, Yosei, it appears you've lost," Kurama replied, lashing out with his whip again, capturing her.  
  
"That's what you think." Yosei raised her hands up over her head, then pointed them, palms out, at the fox spirit. "Here's a special one, just for you. Fox Hunt!"  
  
From her palms came four firey apparitions in the form of hounds. They immediately attacked Kurama, who began fighting back with his whip, to no avail.  
  
"Kurama can't keep this up for long," Hiei observed. "He's getting tired already."  
  
The three others sat watching, silently agreeing. Kurama was watching the fire hounds, who were circling him, waiting for an opportunity to attack. Suddenly, all four attacked at the same time. Kurama could only fend off two of them, the other two sinking their teeth into the fox demon's arm and side, causing him to cry out in pain.  
  
Tensi bit her lip in worry, drawing blood. She took a step forward, but Yusuke and Kuwabara grabbed her arms and pulled her back. "Don't. Let him do this."  
  
"But--!"  
  
"He can handle himself. Trust him," Hiei told her, taking her into his arms. She buried her face in his shoulder, not wanting to watch her friend get abused any further.  
  
Yosei whistled, and her dogs obediently retreated to her heel. She bent down and scratched one of the hound's ears. Kurama had one hand pressed to the wound on his side, blood trickling in rivulets through his fingers. "I just love this attack. It inflicts as much pain as possible, before I finish you off!"  
  
She brought her hands up above her head, gathering her Spirit Energy into a huge sphere. As she began to prepare to hurl it at Kurama, his whip flashed though the air, knocking Yosei out of the air and into the wall. "Gotcha." The fire demons disappeared as Yosei passed out and the doors in front of the group opened.  
  
Tensi rushed forward. "Kurama, are you alright?"  
  
"I'm fine," the boy replied, smiling at his friend.  
  
"Okay, just making sure."  
  
"Shouldn't we be going?" Hiei asked a bit nastily as he walked past the two, who rolled their eyes.  
  
"Hiei..." Tensi groaned. "Don't start."  
  
"Hey, I call shotgun on the next guy!" Kuwabara called after Hiei, running to catch up with the fire demon.  
  
Yusuke, Kurama, and Tensi looked at each other, and Tensi bowed to Yusuke. "After you, O Great Urameshi."  
  
"Hey, I'm beginning to like you," Yusuke told her jokingly, starting after his other two comerades.  
  
"Don't let Hiei hear you," Kurama warned, making the other two laugh.  
* * * * *  
The doors lead to a large staircase. After a quick conference, the five decided to let Yusuke, with his Fire Crystal, go first, then Kurama, with Kuwabara behind, then Hiei and Tensi with their swords bringing up the rear.  
  
As the other three started off, Tensi grabbed Hiei's arm. "What, Ten?"  
  
"Hiei, I've got a bad feeling about this." She met his eyes. "Really bad feeling about this."  
  
Hiei took Tensi into his arms in a comforting hug. "Look, nothing's going to happen, okay? Simple, routine mission, then we'll go home and I'll take you to the other side of the island, deal?"  
  
Tensi looked up and smiled. "Deal."  
  
They leaned in for a kiss, but Yusuke clearing his throat made them pause halfway. "Hey, you two, play kissy-face on your own time," he requested, starting up the stairs.  
  
Hiei glared up at Yusuke. "Urameshi, you forget, you're on MY time right now."  
  
With that, the five of them started off up the stairs.  
* * * * *  
*Quote from Shrek. Hee hee. I'm pillaging...  
* * * * * 


	10. The Capture

For some strange reason, I've been into G-Gundam and Dragon Ball Z fics lately. Odd... Anyway, if you're a G-Gundam fan, I'd recommend 'Ace of Spades' by... someone. Sorry, I can't remember the name right now. And if you're into DBZ, read ANYTHING by Ash the Wanderer. He's got comedy, he's got drama... it's excelent.  
  
Well, enough shameless plugs! Onward ho!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Ten  
The Capture  
* * * * *  
Deep in the heart of the fortress, in the middle room, one the huge stone doors was slowly pushed open. Yosei, beaten in body and spirit, drug her battered, bloody body across the flagstone, her shattered wings beating painfully and pitifully in an attempt to grasp some normalcy.  
  
"Yosei, you have failed me."  
  
The tiny fairy demon cringed at the cold voice. "Milady, it was a small mistake! Please, only heal me, and I shall correct my errors! This I promise you," she pleaded on her knees, holding her bloodstained hands out imploringly.  
  
Silence only came in reply from the throne. Yosei thought that maybe she had talked her way out of trouble.  
  
Then: "Failure shall not be tolerated."  
  
"Milady, no! Please! You can't!" Yosei pleaded, paniking.  
  
Wrong thing to say.  
  
"Don't you tell me what I can and cannot do!" Kurai Maho stood, pushed her scrying stone to the side, and slowly made her way towards the broken demon. Yosei tried to move away, but blood loss and broken bones finally caught up with her, and she collapsed into a heap. The human bent down and picked up the tiny demon, holding her firmly in her fist.  
  
"Milady, please! I beg you, stop!" Yosei, now truly in a life-or-death struggle, began thrashing wildly. Kurai simply tightened his grip, making her subordinate scream in pain.  
  
The louder Yosei screamed, the harder Kurai squeezed.  
  
The harder Kurai sqeezed, the louder Yosei screamed.  
  
The four demons half-hidden in the shadows didn't even flinch as Kurai Maho's laughs mingled with Yosei's cries of agony.  
  
Quite suddenly, Yosei's cries were cut short, followed by a sickening crunch of bones, and the splatter of blood hitting stone floor.  
  
Kurai Maho threw the tangled, still-warm corpse in her hand off to the side. It bounced sickeningly until rolling to a halt in front of the fireplace, where Yosei's bloody, agony-stricken death expression was seen by all for a split second before she evaporated.  
  
"I'll repeat myself only once: Failure WILL NOT be tolerated," Kurai Maho insisted, moving back up to her throne with an attitude that she had just entered the room. Her eyes swept over her four remaining croonies, eyes critical. She stopped at the one furthest to her right. "You. Do not fail me like Yosei did, or you shall find yourself meeting her fate. Capture the one we need."  
  
The demon bowed. "Yes, Milady. It shall be done."  
* * * * *  
Although the Fire Crystal threw enough light to please Tensi, she was shuttering inside. She looked back over her shoulder. There it is again... Someone's watching us... Her hybrid ears strained to listen behind her, a task made harder due to the fact that the sound of their footsteps was bouncing off the stone walls. What the--  
  
She turned on her heel, drawing her sword quickly. The hiss of steel on steel made the other four stop and look back.  
  
"What is it, Ten?" Hiei asked, appearing right behind her.  
  
"I thought I heard something..." The girl trailed off, squinting into the darkness. She shrugged and turned around. "Must be all the echos, playing games on my mind."  
  
"I don't know," Kurama declaired, cocking his head. "You've never misheard before."  
  
"There's a first time for everything," Tensi replied, gesturing forward with her sword hand. "Let's go, let's go."  
  
The five of them continued making their way up the stairs they were climbing, the close quarters making them run single file. Tensi looked back over her shoulder--and caught a silver throwing dagger.  
  
With a 'watch out!' to her comrades, she blocked two more daggers with her sword and threw the first dagger to the side. She leveled her sword, eyes scanning for the attacker. "Only a coward attacks from behind!"  
  
"Then come and get me," came a hard male voice.  
  
Tensi gave a feral grin in reply. "Kuwabara, I know you called the next one, but due to circumstances, I'll take this one." Not waiting for his reply, she rushed forward into the darkness.  
  
Staring into blackness that was interrupted a few times by the sparks of steel on steel, Yusuke was reminded of the tournament Genkai had four years ago to determine who would be her student. Remembering that Kuwabara had been able to see in the darkness, he leaned forward and asked who had the upper hand.  
  
"It's hard to say," was his reply. "Both of them have their Spirit Energy level pushed way down, so I can't see them clearly."  
  
"Neither will they be able to sense one another," Yusuke muttered to himself. "Impressive..."  
  
Suddently, Tensi's voice cut through the darkness. "Ow! Hey! You cut me! Damnit, that hurt."  
  
"What, did you expect it to feel good?" the demon taunted her back.  
  
"It will when I cut your ass in two," came the smart reply.  
  
"Big talk for a dirtblood."  
  
Tensi growled deep in her throat and doubled her efforts, sparks flying more often.  
  
A clatter close by made the four boys jump, startled. Yusuke, in the front, held the crystal high above their heads so as to see. They could barely make out the object.  
  
Tensi's sword lay three stairs below Hiei's feet, blood staining both the tip and the hilt.  
  
"Ten!"  
  
"I'm a little busy!" she called back. This was proceeded by the sound of someone falling down the stairs.  
  
"Tensi!"  
  
As if on command, the girl came barreling up the stairs, stooping to pick up her sword. In the faint light, Yusuke noticed that blood was leaking from a shallow gash in her shoulder, trickling down her arm and onto the hilt. She looked at each one of the boys in turn as she spoke. "I only stalled him for a minute or two. You guys go on ahead. I'll catch up with you when I can."  
  
"Ten..." Hiei said warily, taking her free hand.  
  
Yusuke and Kuwabara exchanged raised eyebrows. It was the first time Hiei had actually shown some emotion towards Tensi in front of them, aside from the kiss they had interrupted. They are the most unconventional couple.  
  
"Hiei, go on. I'll be fine." She kissed him gently, then pushed him away. "Go!"  
  
"All right," Yusuke agreed, starting up the stairs, Kuwabara and then Kurama close behind. Hiei followed a bit slower, not realasing her hand until neither of them could reach the other's hand. Then, he tore up the stairs after the others.  
  
Tensi watched as the light faded into a pinprick, then dissappeared from sight. "Ai shiteru," she wispered into the dark.  
  
An arm curled around her neck from behind. Tensi swung the sword up around the back of her head, the flat of the blade connecting with the side of the demon's head. With a snarl, he released her.  
  
The fight had just begun.  
* * * * *  
Stairs. Stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs, stairs! Kuwabara was sick and tired of running damn stairs. Up stairs, down stairs. Up some more stairs, then down again. They'd been at them for hours, he was certain. And the stairway had gotten narrower and narrower and shorter and shorter the more they ran. Now, only Hiei could move without difficulty.  
  
Kuwabara sighed at the thought of the demon. He kept looking over his shoulder for Tensi, who had yet to show up. Even Kuwabara, who barely knew the girl and had found her annoying, pushy, and too chatty before, was beginning to worry over her.  
  
Then it hit him: A pain in his shoulder so intense he almost passed out. Thankfully, it passed a second afterwards. He stopped dead in his tracks, causing Kurama and then Hiei to run into him, the three falling flat on their faces.  
  
"Damn human!" Hiei snarled uncharacteristically, already on edge and taking some of his stress out on Kuwabara. "What's your problem?"  
  
Kurama tried the peacemaker line. "Hiei, calm down. I'm sure he has a good reason."  
  
"He'd better," Yusuke replied. "We're wasting time. What is it?"  
  
"It-it-it--" Finally, Kuwabara had to look away, to avoid Hiei's eyes. "It's Tensi. Something's wrong."  
  
Hiei went rigid. Not again, please, not again. He fair ripped the strip of cloth off his forehead, opening his evil eye as he did so. The other three were totally silent for a good five minutes, until he closed his third eye and retied the cloth.  
  
"...Is she dead?" Kuwabara asked in a wisper as he massaged his shoulder, which was beginning to throb.  
  
"No." The three stared at him, shocked at the venom in his voice. "She's hurt, but alive. And I get the bastard that caught her."  
* * * * * 


	11. Level Two Omoi

God, do I hate my band director... We have to go to an away game--on the flip side of Baton Rouge! That's a good four, five hours away from where I live. Just for a stupid football game. I'm being sick Friday. That or cutting, Mom can pick.  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Eleven  
Level Two--Omoi  
* * * * *  
Finally, FINALLY, they reached the end of the stairs. The four boys stopped for a short breather, Yusuke putting the crystal sphere in his pocket. They didn't need it anymore: This chamber was lit with torches all along the walls, and a huge fire burning in the hearth.  
  
Kuwabara was the first to recover, as it were. He was also the first to get a really good look around. "Guys? You might want to take a look at this..."  
  
The other three looked around, and were chilled at the sight. All around the room, various tools of torture were scattered about: There was a rack that looked like it had been used since about the 1400s; a metal box, barely large enough to hold a person, with spikes on all three sides and on the door; pikes; spears; swords; axes; a guillotine; guns of all shapes, sizes, and time periods; tools for cutting out togunes; jars for mummified organs; and--worst of all--half-mummified bodies. Fresh blood coated the floor and polluted the air. Also, various body parts were strewn around the room; a finger here, an arm there, legs, arms, rotting organs, not to mention the row of heads on pikes along the far wall. All in all, it was a pretty grusome scene.  
  
The four recoiled in horror. "This guy is so dead," Kuwabara said, breaking the scilence.  
  
"Right."  
  
The voice was behind them. They turned around quickly and met a huge half-naked ogre-type demon, his one acid green eye staring down at them. "Do you like my personal chambers?"  
  
"How about no?" Kuwabara shot back, crossing his arms.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that," the demon replied mock-sadly, smiling down malevolently at the boys as he brushed past them. "Oh, and please excuse me, I'm being rude. My name is Omoi the Executioner."  
  
"And collecting is just a hobby?" Kuwabara asked through clenched teeth.  
  
Omoi laughed at that. "I like you, boy. You've got spirit. I could make you a king of demons, if you would only fetch a part of your friends for my collection."  
  
"Never! Spirit Sword!"  
  
Omoi blinked. "Well, well. You've more spirit I've given you credit for." He picked a random wooden stick from a pile, and withdrew an axe. "Come on, boy. If you think you'll win."  
  
"I KNOW I'll win," Kuwabara replied, leaping at Omoi.  
  
Omoi easily blocked the slash, and the next, and the one after that. "Are you so sure, boy?" He switched to the offensive, whirling his axe around expertly before lashing out on Kuwabara, who blocked as many as he could, but ended up wih a shallow gash in his shoulder.  
  
"You see, this is why humans should never be in positions of power," Omoi informed Kuwabara scholarly. "They either abuse their power or die. Either way, they fail." He swung his axe, catching Kuwabara off guard, and flung him to the other side of the room with the flat of the weapon. The boy was slammed into the wall, then crumpled like a rag doll. "You lose. Next!"  
  
His one eye fixed on the other three. "Well? No takers? Should I just cut you down to size now?"  
  
Omoi became aware of a kind of tingling sensation along his waistline. Actually, it was more of a burning sensation. It ran across his enire body, the feeling moving up from its origin. As his world shifted and he felt himself falling, he suddenly became aware of what he was feeling.  
  
Pain.  
  
He found himself staring at the room sideways. A thud made him look down with his one eye.  
  
It was the lower half of his body.  
  
Kuwabara appeared in his field of vision, Spirit Sword in hand. "I'll be the one doing all the cutting. You lose!"  
  
Omoi saw his foe bring his sword hand down, then he saw no more.  
* * * * *  
Pain. Every part of her body was in pain. Particularly her shoulder and her head. Especially her shoulder and her head. She wanted to open her eyes, but she thought that it might hurt as well. Breathing hurt, but she instictively knew that altering how she was breathing would hurt more. So she laid upon the cold stone floor, playing 'sleep'.  
  
Hiei, when will you come save me? I'm lost...  
  
"She's awake."  
  
What the hell?!  
  
"I can hear your thoughts, dirtblood. You'd do better screaming for him."  
  
Tensi moved slowly, her joints creaking--apparently she had been lying on the cold floor longer than she had thought--and stood, her hair plastered to her forehead with a combination of sweat and blood. She looked like hell, and she knew it, but she didn't care at all. Her sword was gone--she knew it would be--and so was her bag. Damnit... I need what's in that bag!  
  
"You mean the medicine in your bag? Dirty leaves and such?" Kurai Maho asked innocently. "Oh, I already knew about that. They're gone now, each and every one of them." She gestured towards the fireplace, where Tensi just made out the ends of the bag, smoldering in the hearth.  
  
DAMNIT!  
  
"Chain her up!" Kurai Maho ordered to the only demon left in the room. "Make it nice and tight, especially around her neck."  
  
"Yes, Mistress," the deep voice responded, moving towards Tensi.  
  
"But first--" Kurai added, almost as an afterthought. "I want to hear her scream. Since she's so fond of this Hiei, make her scream for him."  
* * * * *  
They were running again, but not up or down any stairs, thankfully. Yusuke, in the lead again, had the Fire Crystal out. Hiei was right behind him, followed by Kurama, who was answering Kuwabara's questions about what had happened after Omoi died.  
  
"Everything dissapeared after Omoi did. What's up with that?"  
  
"Well, there are two theories that I can think of," Kurama answered. "One: The entire thing was an illusion, which I dobut, and two: Omoi had some type of demon spell over the entire room that died when he did. Frankly, I'm glad that it all vanished. That was just sick."  
  
"I agree."  
* * * * *  
"HIEI!"  
  
It was a panicked, tortured scream, immediately recognizable as Tensi's, and it chilled them to the bone. They stopped in their tracks. The three tallest looked over at Hiei, who had gone completely white. Please, please not again!  
  
Kurama placed a comforting hand on his friend's shoulder. "We're almost there, Hiei. She'll be fine. I'm sure of it."  
  
"Damn strait she'll be fine!" Yusuke agreed; his opinion of the girl had changed greatly since thier departure on the stairs. "You'll see. Come on, let's not waste time."  
* * * * * 


	12. Level Three Hyoeyu

As I type this, my little brother is watching 'Dude, Where's My Car?' It's funny, but it's stupid as hell. Quick! To my next chapter!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Twelve  
Level Three--Hyoeyu  
* * * * *  
Tensi hung limply by her wrists, blacked out, the lone demon in the room guarding her. Kurai Maho sat on her throne, watching the other's progress through her scrying stone. "Hm... They're pretty far along... Hyoeyu!"  
  
Another demon appeared at her feet. He knelt in respect. "Yes Milady?"  
  
"I want you to eliminate our guests. Make it as painful as possible, espcially for the short one."  
  
"Yes Milady."  
  
With that, he dissapeared again.  
  
"Wake her up. I don't want her to miss this."  
* * * * *  
Hyoeyu turned on his heel as the boys entered the room. "I thought you'd never arrive."  
  
"And who the hell are you?" Yusuke asked, staring the demon down. He was fairly tall--by human standards--with an orange tint to his skin, and glowing yellow eyes. He looked like he had been in a scuffle recently; his clothes were dirty and bloody, with a slash in one of the sleeves of his shirt. Also, a bruise was forming on his cheek.  
  
"My name is Hyoeyu."  
  
"It should be 'I've just gotten the hell beaten out of me'," Yusuke shot back, scowling.  
  
"If you think I look bad, you should see what I did to the dirtblood bitch. I don't know if she'll live, but I do know she'll never be able to walk correctly again."  
  
Yusuke felt Hiei go rigid with anger. "He's mine."  
  
"Oh, so you're first, loverboy?" Hyoeyu taunted as Hiei stepped forward. "I'll be happy when I bring her your head."  
  
Hiei made no reply except to remove his cape and push his Spirit Energy level up.  
  
"I'll give her some credit," Hyoeyu conceeded. "She did put up a good fight. But eventually she gave up."  
  
"Liar."  
  
Hyoeyu blinked. "What did you call me?"  
  
"Liar. Tensi never gives up on anything. NEVER!"  
  
What happened next was too sudden for anyone to see. One second Hiei was in front of Hyoeyu, the next he was behind him. Hiei turned around as Hyoeyu began chuckling. "I had forgotten of your legendary speed. However, it will not help you..." Hyoeyu drew his own sword and started for Hiei, who simply jumped and landed a flying kick directly in his chest. Next thing anyone knew, Hyoeyu was gone in a firey-red flash of light.  
  
Yusuke and Kuwabara stood, shocked and blinking at the short demon. He's gotten fast. I didn't even see him draw!  
  
As Hiei fastened his cloak, Kurama posed the same question he had asked on their first mission as a group. "Hiei, how many times did you cut him?"  
  
"Enough." He turned and started towards the doors on the other side of the room. "Let's go."  
* * * * *  
Tensi grinned as Kurai Maho threw her scrying crytal to the ground in fury. "Looks like your guests are still here, Kurai. And they're comming to get me and kill you. What do you plan to do now?"  
  
Kurai lashed out with her hand, slapping Tensi across the place and reopening the gash on her forehead. "Tie her up again! Do with her as you wish."  
  
"As you wish, Milady."  
  
Tensi felt herself being pulled by the arms over towards the other side of the room. Dizzy from blood loss, she felt her world spinning. No, not going to happen again. Not going to happen again.  
  
Grabbing the arms of the demon, she flung him across the room. "This time, I'm in control."  
* * * * * 


	13. Level Four and Kurai Maho The Inner Cha...

I'll be nice and give you another chapter. Read away!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Thirteen  
Level Four And Kurai Maho--The Inner Chamber  
* * * * *  
Hiei could hear Tensi down the hall, though the doors. Listening to her voice sarcasticly taunting someone made him grin a bit. She's okay.  
  
"Come on, come on! Is that all you've got? Ooh, I'm scared, Mommy!" He heard the smack of skin-on-skin. "Oho, you don't like that, do you? No wonder. You'd proably like it better if my brother slapped you on your ass, fatty."  
  
Oh, yeah, she's okay.  
  
As the four boys shoved the doors open, they saw Tensi, with dried blood and dirt smeared across her face and her clothing in ribbons, land a nice spinning kick to the demon's head. She looked down at the blacked-out demon in front of her. "Rule number one for a fight: Never take your eyes off your opponent. That little tidbit's free."  
  
Kurai Maho stood from her throne. With a wave of her hands, she lit the entire chamber with the torches along the walls. With no more half-shadows to hide her face, she could be clearly seen. A woman, about fifty, with strait black hair stood before them, her Spirit Energy pushed way up, creating a glow around her.  
  
Kurama and Tensi both narrowed their eyes. "Akuma."  
  
"Well, I'm glad to see that you haven't forgotten me," Akuma replied snidely. "Although I can see you're surprised to see me."  
  
"Kurai Maho or Akuma, it's my turn," Yusuke replied, stepping forward. He looked over at Tensi. "You okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Take her out for me, okay?" Tensi asked, turning to join the others.  
  
"Oh, I'll take her out," Akuma replied. She pointed her palm towards Tensi and released a huge beam of Spirit Energy at her back.  
  
"Tensi!"  
  
What happened next seemed to be in slow motion. Tensi turned around and froze, for once in her life. Hiei ran and knocked her out of the line of fire, but he was a half a second too slow and caught half of the blast in the side. They fell to the floor hard. Tensi immediately sat up and shook his shoulders. "Hiei!"  
  
"Damnit, I missed." Akuma snapped her fingers in dismay.  
  
"Too bad," Yusuke said sarcastically. "I won't! Spirit Gun!"  
  
Akuma knocked his blast away easily. "Stupid boy. I've been training for years. I've more power in one strand of hair than you have total."  
  
"Hiei, that was a stupid, stupid move," Tensi told him gently as he picked his head up and met her eyes.  
  
"Are you okay?"  
  
Tensi nodded. "And you?"  
  
"I'll live."  
  
"That's what you think," Akuma sneered, waving her hand. In Tensi's arms, Hiei hissed in pain. Tensi held Hiei close to her while staring daggers at Akuma.  
  
Akuma shifted her gaze from Tensi to Yusuke. "My turn, boy." She raised her hand palm upwards towards Yusuke. "Total Annihilation!"  
  
Yusuke instinctively covered his head with his arms as the huge black energy blast came hurtling towards him. Damnit! This is gonna hurt.  
  
He never found out.  
  
After fifteen seconds of waiting, he looked up. Looking around, he saw Tensi standing next to him, an energy shield in front of them of her own doing. Her hair and clothes rustled as her Spirit Energy ran unchecked, her green eyes glowing blue. "Traitor! You're no martial arts expert, you're a witch! You've sold your soul, Akuma. And for that, you must pay!"  
  
"Tensi, don't!" Kurama pleaded. "You could die!"  
  
"If my life is the price I have to pay to wipe Akuma off the planet, then I'll give it gladly." She lowered her arms and shut her eyes, concentrating hard. Bringing her hands up to in front of her chest, she created a large ball of bright blue energy. She turned to Yusuke and held it out towards him.  
  
Yusuke just raised his eyebrows.  
  
"I need your help on this one," Tensi told him quietly. "Go on."  
  
Yusuke heasitantly put his hand into the glowing circle, where it glowed pale blue before Tensi's energy was absorbed into his hand.  
  
He leveled his finger at Akuma. Here goes nothing. "SPIRIT GUN!"  
  
When Akuma tried to block this blast, it took her arm off, totally burned it away, all the way up to her shoulder.  
  
"What the--?" Yusuke felt like he hadn't even fired his Spirit Gun--if anything, he felt stronger.  
  
"Do it again, Yusuke," Tensi insisted. "And again, if need be."  
  
"I'll do it all at once. SHOTGUN!"  
  
None of the bullets missed their mark, all five of them slicing into Akuma. She screamed horribly, pain ripping though her body.  
  
Tensi raised both her hands in a way similar to yet totally different from Akuma. "Now, begone!"  
  
Suddenly, Akuma burst into flames. As Akuma's screams once again filled the air, Yusuke glanced over at Tensi. The half-demon was concentrating hard, her usually pretty features contorted into a look of deep hatred... and pain. She spread her fingers and watched as the flames rose higher.  
  
When Tensi finally lowered her hands and dimmed the flames into nothing, the only remains of Akuma were bits of bone, charred scraps of fabric, and a handful of ashes. She looked over at Yusuke and grinned, her entire demenior showing fatigue.  
  
"You did it," he told her, returning her grin.  
  
"We did it," she insisted. "We did..." With that, she crumpled right into Hiei's arms.  
* * * * * 


	14. Tensi's Sacrifice

Sorry it took so long to get this chapter out. First, FF.N won't let me sign in, then I went to Washington D. C. for a week for Presidential Classroom. Guys and girls, if you can, I highly recommend going. Find the money, and GO! It's a blast, trust me.  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Fourteen  
Tensi's Sacrifice  
* * * * *  
"Hello Mrs. Tetsewon."  
  
"Oh, hello Suichi. Come with some more of Sakura's homework?"  
  
"Yes ma'am. Shall I put it in her room?"  
  
"That would be fine. Hiei is with her."  
  
Kurama bowed, made his way down the hall and entered Tensi's room, closing the door behind him silently. Hiei sat watching Tensi's sleeping form. The girl tossed and turned in her sleep, battling the fever she had been fighting for almost an entire week. It had forced Yusuke to bring Henageshi and Botan over to the Tetsewons and the both of them what their daughter had been doing late at night for six years. Her parents had been pretty crushed, but they took it fairly well.  
  
Kurama placed the books under his arm on Tensi's desk. "Has she woken up?"  
  
Hiei didn't even turn around. "She's been talking in her sleep: to Henageshi, to Botan, to Koenma, to King Yama... I know for a fact she's been talking to the last two; she always called them 'cousin' when she referred to them." Finally he turned and faced his friend. "Kurama, if I lose her again... I don't know what I'll do."  
  
Kurama blinked, taken aback. Hiei hadn't been this frank, open, or emotional with him in years.  
  
Hiei turned back around, and Kurama suddently remembered back to after the battle with the Four Saint Beasts.  
  
"Here's what I don't understand; why would he bother saving her if he died in the process?"  
  
"Trust me, Hiei, there are reasons."  
  
"Huh. Maybe for a person who's lived there. But I'd never do it."  
  
He's changed so much in the span of a week... Kurama bit his lower lip. Ten, you'd better get well, and soon.  
* * * * *  
"Hiei, I want to thank you for all the help you've been with Sakura," Mr. Tetsewon told the fire demon that night when he got home. They were in the kitchen, Mr. Tetsewon gripping the back of one of the chairs, his stance showing worry and fatigue.  
  
"It's nothing," he replied. "She's done the same for me, it's the least I can do to return the favor. I just wish I could do more."  
  
The elder sank down into the chair. "Why didn't she tell us? Did we do something wrong?"  
  
Hiei shook his head. "She didn't want you to worry about her. I know your daughter better than I know myself. She hates people worring over her. Doing just that has earned me a few bruises in my time."  
  
Mr. Tetsewon looked up. "I wish she had brought you home sooner."  
* * * * *  
That night, Tensi took a turn for the worse, her fever going so high, the Tetsewons ended up taking her to the hospital.  
* * * * *  
When Hiei arrived at the hospital the next afternoon, Yusuke and Kuwabara met him just outside of Tensi's hospital door. "It doesn't look good," Yusuke conceeded. "They're only letting one person in at a time. Her parents took Kori home, and Kurama's in there with her right now."  
  
"She's awake?"  
  
"Off and on," Kuwabara supplied. "She was awake when I went in there, and when Yusuke went in, too."  
  
The door opened and a somber Kurama walked out of the room. He met Hiei's eyes, then moved out of the way to allow Hiei access to the room.  
  
As Hiei shut the door behind him, Kurama looked at Yusuke and Kuwabara and shook his head.   
Yusuke slid to the floor. "I feel responsible, in some way... Like it's my fault she's dying..." He looked up at his two friends. "I realize now exactally what she did, back in the castle... She gave me her life's energy." He held up his right hand and looked at it. "I can still feel it running though my veins. And she won't let me give it back!" He slammed his hand on the cold tile hall flooring. "Stubborn bitch," Yusuke muttered, almost to himself. "Her life is dwindling away, yet she refuses to do the one thing that would save it, brushing me off with that smile of hers, and tells me in that tone of hers, 'no, I've got to die.' Doesn't she understand what she's doing to Hiei?"  
  
"I think she understand more than any of us."  
  
The three boys turned to see Kayko and Yukina standing at the end of the hallway, apparently for some time. The ice demon spoke again in her soft voice. "This is the price she must pay for comming back."  
  
Kurama blinked at the demon, startled. Yukina met his gaze levely. "Hiei told me. As he also told me that he is my brother."  
  
Kurama nodded, eyes averted. The blue-haired girl continued in the ensuing silence. "From what I've heard, she died once, but was allowed to come back after thorough begging. And if I know one thing about King Yama, he does not grant things freely without a price in return."  
  
Kurama nodded once again, agreeing with the girl. "But this time, I fear, the price may be too high."  
* * * * *  
Tensi's eyes lit up when they met Hiei's. She smiled, relieved to see him, and opened her arms.  
  
He was next to her in an instant, her arms around his neck, his around her waist; a bit awkward, considering the hospital bed, but Hiei found that he cared little. What was more important was her lips on his. He could feel her heart beating faintly through that connection--that's what mattered.  
  
Finally, they pulled apart, and Hiei sat in the chair next to her bed. He looked into her bright green eyes. "Ten, why--?"  
  
"Akuma." Tensi shut her eyes and shook her head slowly. "She screwed us over again."  
  
"Again? I-I-I'm sorry, I'm just a bit confused."  
  
"She's the one who made the cliff fall out. Koenma told me."  
  
Hiei silently cursed Akuma's soul to Hell at that.  
  
"She also cast a spell over me--before you came to rescue me. She sold her soul to the highest bidder for the ability to do what she's wanted to do for years. Kill me for good. With a death-spell. One that worked in her favor. I could die, and she would live. If she died, so would I."  
  
He almost wished that Akuma was still alive, so he could beat her to a bloody pulp.  
  
But Tensi wasn't done.  
  
"In fact, the only reason I was allowed back... Was to say good-bye."  
  
The room went silent, except for the steady 'beep, beep, beep' of the heart monitor. Tensi turned her head away to look out her window. The day was overcast, the grey sky and looming black clouds forcasting not only rain, but predictng Hiei's future as well.  
  
He reached into his pockets and pulled out the little ring he had given her all those years ago. He put it on her hand, then held both of hers in his.  
  
"Hiei..."  
  
"No, you keep it. I'm not going to give it to anyone else. I never was, and I never shall."  
  
"Hiei... I can't come back. My cousin told me so when I was trying to come back the first time. 'I'll let you go only once. Don't ask me again.'. Those were his exact words."  
  
He met her eyes again and kissed her gently. "Ai shiteru, Tensi."  
  
"Ai shiteru, Hiei," she replied, tears filling her eyes. She leaned back onto the bed. "Hiei... I'm so tired. So tired."  
  
He understood. "Then go." He stood, kissed her lips, then her eyes, making them shut. As he pulled back, he noted that they didn't flutter back open. He stroked her cheek with the back of his hand. "Good-bye."  
  
Tensi's eyes opened slowly and put her hand over his. Hiei could tell that it took every bit of strength for her to do so. She smiled at him so sweetly, so lovingly, he could actually feel his heart breaking. "I'll see you sooner or later." She turned her head and kissed his hand. "And I'll wait for you like you did for me."  
  
"Ten..."  
  
He leaned over again and kissed her gently. As he stood, he noticed that Tensi's entire body was limp. With her eyes shut, she looked like she was sleeping.  
  
Hiei knew better.  
  
As he turned to leave, he heard the one sound he had hoped against hope to not hear.  
  
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...  
  
The flatline of the heart monitor.  
* * * * *  
Kurama sighed from under his umbrella. It had been raining for almost a week straight, he reflected. Ever since Tensi had died, the weather had seemed to mirror Hiei's mood. Which was understandable. Kurama didn't feel too chipper himself. Twice, Ten... Twice. His grip tightened on the umbrella at the memory of what Tensi had told him in the hospital room. I told you, but you didn't listen. You never did, now that I think about it.  
  
The redhead stepped stealthily up the hill, right behind Hiei. Although he didn't make a sound, Kurama knew that Hiei knew that he was behind him. "I thought I'd find you here."  
  
Hiei didn't say anything.  
  
"Hiei, she's gone. There's nothing you can do to bring her back."  
  
No response.  
  
"She wouldn't want you to act like your life is over. You're alive. Don't just give up."  
  
Hiei's reply of scilence was infuriatating.  
  
"Damnit, Hiei!" Kurama finally lost his temper. "I'm hurting too! We all are; her human family, the other guys... She died for all of us. And, if we're lucky, we'll get to see her again."  
  
Hiei took his eyes off the gravestone to turn and meet his friend's sympathetic eyes. They reminded him for a split-second of Tensi. "You're right. We'll see her again."  
  
"And damnit, what a party that'll be."  
  
Kurama looked over his shoulder to find Yusuke, Kayko, Kuwabara and Yukina under umbrellas, dressed in back to pay their respects to Tensi. Yukina had a black coat in her arms, which she unfolded and offered to Hiei. "Come on out of the rain, before you catch a cold!" she pleaded, her blue eyes imploring her brother.  
  
With one last look back towards Tensi's grave, Hiei obediently listened to his sister and his friends. They're right. I will see her again.  
* * * * *  
It's over!... or.... is it? 


	15. Dreams

What? You thought I was done? Oh, no, my friends. Not yet. Not yet...  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Fifteen  
Dreams  
* * * * *  
Kuwabara awoke with a start. He leaned forward, holding his head in his hands. "What a dream!"  
  
Was it a dream, Kazuma? Or a premonition?  
  
Not noticing the fact that another voice had said this, he closed his eyes again, trying to remember it; unfortunately, the finer points evaded him, and he had wanted to forget the major points. So much BLOOD!  
  
He lay flat on his back, looking up at the ceiling. "Something is wrong..."  
* * * * *  
Yusuke was dreaming, too. A dream just as bad as the one that had awoken his friend.  
  
Unfortunately, wakefullness was not an option.  
  
He was walking in a forest, one alive with Spirit Energy--possibly near Master Genkai's temple?--and it was pouring down rain. Not just a little bit of rain, rain so hard Yusuke could barely see his own hand in front of his face. He was cold, he was soaked to the bone, and he was pissed.  
  
But something was calling him... A voice, maybe? Yusuke didn't know. All he knew for certain was that he was being drawn towards something, or someone out here.  
  
Quite suddently, he stopped. His mere human eyes could just barely make out a body on the forest floor. Straining his eyes, he tried to see who it was.  
  
He could smell blood. The air was thick with it--literally. Yusuke gasped in horror as he realized that the cold rain falling had turned into warm, sticky blood.  
  
The forest was filling quickly with the substance. It was up to his ankles already, taking away leaves caught in its currents. In no time at all, it had swallowed the body, erasing it from his sight. As Yusuke cursed silently over the body, the water had risen to up to his knees. He tried to move, but found his feet were stuck to the ground in the awful water-blood-dirt combination.  
  
Soon, the river of blood was up to his waist. It quickly asccended his body up his torso, over his shoulder, to his chin, over his head--  
  
He awoke in a cold sweat, shaking all over. Gasping for breath, relieved at being free from the awful dream at last, he drew his knees up to his chest and put his forehead on his kneecaps... And heard a faint, soothing voice humming softly, and someone stroking his hair.  
  
Snapping his head up, he saw a shadow of a girl sitting on the edge of his bed. She moved to sit cross-legged on the very end of his bed and smiled brightly at him. "Hey Yusuke." Her voice was soft, echoy, and hollow, but he knew it. It was Tensi's.  
  
Yusuke stared at her. "What are you doing here?" he asked her softly, so as to not awaken his mother in the next room.  
  
"You were having a bad dream. I just thought you'd like some comfort." Her smile softened as she winked at him. "Goodnight, Yusuke. No more bad dreams, you hear? And do me a favor--watch Hiei for me, please." With that, she dissapeared.  
  
Yusuke laid back upon his bed and grinned. "Now, what ever was a girl like that doing with Hiei? I just don't see it."  
* * * * *  
"I'm sorry Yusuke, but I haven't seen Hiei all day today," Henageshi appologized the next afternoon. "I don't even know if he's still in his room or not."  
  
"Kurama and Kuwabara are checking in there right now," the dark-haired boy replied. "I was just checking to see if you had seen him around. Thanks anyway." Yusuke turned and headed towards Hiei's room, but was met by Kurama halfway there. "What?"  
  
"I found this in his room." Kurama handed Yusuke a small square of paper, a few odd characters scrawled on it. Yusuke couldn't make heads or tails of them.  
  
"And all this means?"  
  
"It means, "You were right, Kurama"... In the demon written language."  
  
Yusuke would swear later that he heard his stomach drop down to about his knees. At the moment, however, he promptly panicked. "Where the hell is he?!"  
* * * * *  
The three decided to split ways, each taking a section of the woods surrounding the temple. In doing this, the enitre area would be searched. Kuwabara taking the right, Kurama the middle, and Yusuke the left, they set out. The situation was not looking good: Big, black thunderclouds had been threatening rain all day long, and were sparatically loosing their store of rain down on the populous below.  
  
Kuwabara shivered to himself as the rain came pelting down on him once more. This is so creapy... Reminds me of that dream I had last night. I hope I don't find a body, I hope I don't find a body, I hope I don't find a body...  
  
He never saw the root--it was almost as if the tree had a concious will of its own and lifted it right out of the ground, tripping the redhead. He fell with a hard 'thud', then slowly rose, winded and cursing to himself as he caught his breath.  
  
"Damnit, that really fucking hurt. Ow, I'm gonna have a bruise there tomorrow..." Looking down, he noticed a fair-sized rock lying on the ground where he had fallen; it had made direct contact with his chest. Frustrated at himself, Hiei, the weather, the tree and the rock, he kicked the stone off to the side--  
  
--And froze when he heard it come in contact with metal.  
* * * * *  
"GUYS! YOU'D BETTER GET HERE QUICK!"  
  
The panicked tone in Kuwabara's voice made Kurama and Yusuke jump. Turning towards the sound, the two boys took off. They were at his side seconds after he had finished yelling. Yusuke stared at his friend, who had gone quite white. "What?!"  
  
"Is he--is he--?" Kuwabara pointed to his left, staring wide-eyed over their heads. Naturally, the other two looked over, and were stunned at the sight that presented itself.  
  
It was Hiei. He was lying face down on the leaf-strewn ground, a fine river of blood snaking its way though the muddy underfoot. His sword was grasped in his limp right hand, blood staining the entire blade.  
  
The three stood rooted to the spot for a split-second as the realization hit them: It had been Hiei in their dream last night, that lifeless body that had been swallowed up by the blood flood.  
  
Kurama was the first to come to his senses; maybe he was still just barely alive; maybe they could still save him. Rushing forward to his friend, he carefully and painstakingly flipped him over to his back, finding disapointment at the new sight revealed: A rip in his cape revealed a deep gash, the blood barely trickling out stickily as the antigens tried instictively to repair the damage. On Hiei's face was a look of peaceful content, much akin to that of a sleeping child.  
  
Kurama shook his head. "We're too late," here, he looked back up at his friends. "He's cold."  
* * * * * 


	16. Hiei's Judgement

Not much to say, just please enjoy the chapter!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Sixteen  
Hiei's Judgement  
* * * * *  
Botan was the Spirit Guide assigned to Hiei's case. And what was her reaction when she saw her fare? Was it shock? No. Was it sympathy? Not even close. She scolded Hiei like a naughty human child. "Hiei! You shouldn't be here!"  
  
Hiei raised his eyebrows; that blue-haired wench was using the exact same tone he had heard Mrs. Tetsewon use on Kori when the child had charged him scarely two weeks earlier. "Nice to see you too, Botan."  
  
"It's just!" Botan pulled out her little pad of Fate, flipping though it. She raised her eyebrows after reading a page. "Well, you're not supposed to be here, but here you are!" She stared back at him while tucking her pad away. "What am I to do with you now?"  
  
"Take me to King Yama."  
  
"But Hiei! Demons can't--"  
  
"DAMNIT, BOTAN TAKE ME NOW!"  
  
Botan was taken aback by this. She knew Hiei had a temper, but it had never been turned on her before. She stared at him, and could practically see the need for her to do this for him etched in his features.  
  
"Please, Botan, take me to King Yama."  
  
"All right. Hold on tight."  
* * * * *  
Tensi stuck her head into Koenma's office. "You wanted to see me, cousin?"  
  
Koenma didn't even look up from his paperwork. "Yes, yes, come in, come in, have a seat."  
  
Tensi complied with Koenma's request, shutting the door behind her. "What is it? Is something wrong?"  
  
"Well... I have a question my father wants me to ask you. Why haven't you crossed over yet? You know you can't go back. Why are you still a ghost?"  
  
Tensi shrugged her shoulders. "Not appealing at the moment. I still want to watch over my friends, make sure they're okay, you know."  
  
"You mean you want to watch Hiei."  
  
Tensi decided to go for the truth. "Well, yes."  
  
"I don't think you'll need to do that anymore," Koenma told her, handing her a sheet of paper to read.  
  
"Request for Hiei, fire demon, to have passage into the Spirit Wor--WHAT?!" Tensi finished, jumping to her feet.  
  
"He killed himself. Didn't see it comming," Koenma said in his quite frank manner. "He's going up in front of my father... Should I slip you in with him?"  
  
"Your father will kill you."  
  
"No he won't. He can't--" Koenma grinned a bit. "I'm his only heir."  
* * * * *  
"How dare you think you can just waltz right in here and ask for admittance!" King Yama thundered at Hiei. The fire demon simply stared back at the monarch, a move that infuriated the king even more. "Don't you know demons like you don't get any mercy?"  
  
Hiei bowed his head, sorrow taking over. You knew this would happen.  
  
"You're a theif, you're a murder, and--"  
  
"And he was reformed in less than four years." The voice came from the back of the hall. Hiei turned around to find Tensi in formal dress, showing her status as royal cousin. "I personally think that's a good thing."  
  
"You would," King Yama told the half-demon as she walked down the carpet. She bowed formally at her cousin. "Are you here to cross over, Onizuka Tensi?"  
  
"You could say that, couisn." Tensi took Hiei's hand. "I want the same fate Hiei gets."  
  
"Ten--no!" Hiei protested immediately. "I refuse to let you do this."  
  
"Hiei, you're not going to tell me what to do, not anymore. I want to be with you, and if that means I have to go to Hell, well, then, I have to go to Hell. At least I'd be with you." She looked at him, strait into his eyes. "Hell would be more tolerable with you than Heaven without you."  
  
Hiei put his free hand on Tensi's cheek. "Ten..."  
  
She knocked his hand away. "And besides, you moron, this was totally uncalled for! Honestly, it's not like you couldn't come to Spirit World and see me!"  
  
"Um, excuse me..." King Yama tried to intervene, failing miserably  
  
"I THOUGHT you would have crossed over by now," Hiei replied, half-defending himself, half-scolding Tensi.  
  
"Um, the King wants to talk now...." King Yama tried again.  
  
"Oh, right. Me, cross over? Don't you know me good enough by now? Didn't cross for five hundred years, what makes you think I'm going to do it now?"  
  
"Well, excuse the hell out of me, Onizuka. That's right, I forgot that your human taint tends to make you forego REASON!"  
  
"Oh, don't start with me about 'human taint', Hiei, I'm in NO mood!"  
  
"IF THE TWO OF YOU ARE QUITE FINISHED, WE COULD CONTINUE!" the enranged King of Spirit World thundered.  
  
Hiei and Tensi just scowled at King Yama, unnerving the monarch with the twin evil glares he was getting for interrupting their argument. He coughed. Must be a demon thing.  
  
Clearing his throat, he continued. "Yes, now, this is very sweet and everything, but the fact still remains that Hiei's ran a pretty bad life."  
  
"Cousin--"  
  
"Be quiet and let me speak! Now, as I was saying, Hiei's murdered, he's tried to kill, he's turned people into zombies, he's stolen precious artifacts, he's done millions of things, all punishible by eternal damnnation, banishment into the farthest reaches of space."  
  
Hiei bowed his head again, sorrow once again flowing though his veins. Tensi squeezed his hand in support. At least I'll have her...  
  
"...However, Tensi does have a good point. You have some redeeming qualities. For the last four years, my son reports that you have matured greatly, and have shown amazing progress from what you were, the aforementioned murdering demon thief, into what you have now become, the admiral demon standing before me."  
  
The two looked at each other, then at King Yama.  
  
"Therefore, I am offering something to the two of you that has never been offered to any demon--full or half-blood--before. I want both of you to do Death Counciling."  
  
"Death Couciling?" Hiei asked, shocked.  
  
"Yes, the couciling of newly deceased humans, those who haven't excepted their death yet, and are still living as ghosts. Help them deal with what happened, especially those who have died tragically or unexpectedly." He looked at their skeptical looks, then raised his eyebrows. "Of course, if you think you're too good for such a job--"  
  
"No! No!" the two panicked, throwing up their hands. "We'll take it!"  
  
"Fine, then get out of my sight!" the monarch roared good-naturedly.  
* * * * *  
When the two got out of the throne room, Tensi immediately leapt into Hiei's arms, kissing him hard. He kissed her back just as hungrily, picking her up and spinning her around, not giving a damn about all the ogres staring at them. Finally, he put her down and the two broke apart. The two looked at the swelling crowd, then back at each other. "What do you say we get the Hell out of here?" Tensi wispered to him.  
  
"I'd say you were pretty damn smart."  
* * * * *  
"You know, if I wasn't dead, my cousin would kill me if he found out we were sleeping on the job," Tensi jokingly told Hiei later, as the two lay in each other's arms, the aftereffects of their recent lovemaking still throbbing though their veins.  
  
"I don't recall much sleeping," Hiei replied to the girl, running a hand over her bare hip.  
  
"Ah, neither do I." She leaned up and kissed him gently. Pulling back a bit, she looked him in the eye. "Why did you do it, you dumb demon?"  
  
Hiei sighed. "Seeing you again, just to lose you... I couldn't bear it. I had to be with you forever, and death was the only option." He pulled her close. "You've become a part of me, a need so deep it hurts, even when we're together."  
  
Tensi propped herself up, her elbows on his chest. "Hiei, when did you become so romantic?"  
  
"Two hundred years will change a man," was his reply.  
  
Tensi grinned and kissed him again, all the love she had for him revealed in that simple act. He pulled her to her chest, kissing the top of her head gently. "Oh, gods I've missed this, Ten."  
  
"Missed what, love?"  
  
"This," Hiei replied, pulling Tensi even closer. "You. Everything."  
  
"What, no sex since me?" Tensi asked jokingly, wrapping her arms around his neck.  
  
"Nope. No one at all. The thought never even crossed my mind."  
  
She gently kissed the underside of his chin and began to drift off to sleep, at least until he shook her awake.  
  
"Hm, now, Hiei, I love you and all, but I'm REALLY tired. Can't I just get a FEW minutes of sleep?"  
  
"Nope," Hiei looked down at her and smiled at her. "You've got to make up for over two hundred years of abstinance, and in a hurry."  
  
"Aw, Hell," Tensi replied in mock-agony, looking up into Hiei's eyes. "I'm screwed, and in more ways than one. It's a good thing we don't start work for three days, right?"  
  
"That would be most correct."  
* * * * * 


	17. Farewells

Okay, this is it, boyos and girlos. It's been wild, and I've had fun!  
* * * * *  
Cold as Fire  
by Grace Musica  
  
Chapter Seventeen  
Farewells  
* * * * *  
Yusuke tossed and turned in his sleep that night. He had awoken numerous times that night, and it wasn't even one in the morning yet--he kept seeing Hiei's body in his dreams.  
  
Awaking once again in a cold sweat, he shivered. Burying his head in his hands, he muttered to himself, "I failed them both."  
  
"No, you didn't."  
  
Yusuke looked up to see Tensi sitting at the end of his bed again. He looked over at her and actually scowled at the half-demon's shadow. "Are you just going to haunt the end of my bed forever?"  
  
"Only after you and Kayko sleep together," Tensi replied with a grin. Quite suddently, she winced a bit as Hiei appeared next to her, pinching her arm playfully.  
  
"Be nice to the human."  
  
"But DADDY!"  
  
"Ten..." Hiei warned.   
  
Yusuke watched as the girl actually stuck her togune out at her lover. And was even more startled when Hiei returned it. Raising an eyebrow, he put his chin in his hand and stared at the two. "Are we just going to do this all night, or are do you have a point outside of torturing me?"  
  
"Oh, so bitter," Hiei replied.  
  
"Pity. I thought death would humble you."  
  
Hiei drew himself up to full height and actually grinned at Yusuke. "Never."  
  
"Gentlemen! Please!" Tensi smiled at Yusuke. "Don't worry about us, we're just fine. And we'll stop bothering you guys. We'll only show up every other day!" she finished with a laugh, which prompted Yusuke to laugh a bit himself and shake his head. "Kidding. We've a job to do now, so we'll catch you guys on the flip side, okay?"  
  
Yusuke smiled a bit. "Yeah."  
  
Hiei looked at Yusuke. "I know I gave you a hard time, especially in the beginning. But I really enjoyed working with you." He bowed formally to Yusuke, who returned it as best he could in his seated position. The demon put his arm around Tensi, who waved, and disappeared.  
  
Yusuke sat staring at the spot they had just occupied for a good ten minutes after they were gone. "Goodbye, Hiei. Goodbye, Tensi. It was a pleasure."  
* * * * *  
Kuwabara tossed and turned in his sleep that night, too. He didn't wake up, however, due to the fact that Hiei was preventing him from wakefullness.  
  
Hiei had quite nearly beat the hell out of him, running him in circles. When the redhead had collapsed from exaustion to the ground, he found a sword blade at his neck. Hiei lifted his chin with the blade. "You'd better be good to my sister. Or next time, it won't be a dream."  
  
He withdrew his weapon and kicked him in the side, none too gently, making him roll across the floor--  
  
--and out of bed, finally releasing him from the channel-dream. Kuwabara lay on his back on the floor, in a slight state of shock.  
  
"DAMN YOU, HIEI!"  
* * * * *  
Kurama was dreaming as well; however, his was nicer than Kuwabara's. It was a dream he really, honestly didn't want to end.  
  
It was back in the old days, he knew it in his gut. He was standing in front of Tensi's house, the grass at his feet wet from a recent rain. It had to be around midmorning, due to the position of the sun's rays and the birds singing.  
  
He approached and opened the door silently, to find Hiei, Tensi, and three children--two little girls who looked heart-wrenchingly like their mother and a young, carbon-copy clone of Hiei--seated around the table, all in the process of eating lunch. The three little ones smiled broadly at Kurama.  
  
"Uncle Kurama! We saved you some food! Come join us!"  
  
Quite suddently, Kurama found himself as the observer instead of the participant. As he stood rooted to the ground in shock, his blue-haired demon-human form sat himself at the table. Kurama stared as he watched himself tease the three children.  
  
"You saved me some, I'll give you that, but one grain of rice? I can't live off that! Come on, give me some of yours." The blue-haired elder reached over with his chopsticks into the bowl of the younger girl at his left. The child giggled.  
  
"You're funny, Uncle Kurama."  
  
"That's the way it should have been," came a voice from behind him. Kurama tore his eyes off of the scene before him and turned around quickly to find Tensi standing in the doorway, dressed in the last true clothes he had seen her alive in. "The three of us, growing old together, bringing up our children as family." The half-demon sighed. "Ah, well, there's no use crying over spilled milk, right?"  
  
"Ten..."  
  
"Don't feel sorry for me, Kurama. What's done is done. I just wasn't cut out for life on your side of the world, that's all." She shook her head. "I regret it, yes, but what can I say? The Fates did not favor me."  
  
"Tensi, they favored you more than you think. You've still got Hiei."  
  
Tensi grinned. "This is true, this is true. You'll have to come and visit us in the Spirit World, when you can."  
  
"Every possible opportunity," Kurama promised, and the two shook on it.  
  
"I've got to be going. I just wanted you to know that I'm okay." She turned to leave, then stopped in the doorway and looked over her shoulder.  
  
"What?" Kurama knew too well the grin plastered on her face.  
  
"I just remembered something... I was told that I was not allowed back into the Human World, unless on extremely important occassions... However... Nothing was said about the Demon World."  
* * * * *  
Back in the Spirit World, Hiei took Tensi into his arms when she got back. She looked into Hiei's eyes and shook her head. "Why do you torture that boy so?"  
  
"Becasue it's fun," Hiei replied, grinning a bit.  
  
"I'll bet. He's gonna try and kick your ass when he sees you again."  
  
"I'd like to see him try."  
  
Tensi sighed. "And, he'll take good care of your sister, you know that."  
  
Hiei grinned wider at that. "But not as good as I'm going to take of you."  
  
He leaned over and captured her lips. Tensi wrapped her arms around Hiei's neck, pulling back a bit. "Ai shiteru, Hiei."  
  
"Ai shiteru, Tensi."  
* * * * *  
Yay! It's done! Wow, that was a shocker. I had no idea what that was going to turn into when I started it, I swear. And I freaked the hell out of Faith, too. I let her read the entire thing, so I could get an idea of people's reactions, and after she read it, her reaction was hysterical. Especially at chapter four. You see, I wrote it and it turned into a lemon (this was pre-nonlemon days at fanfic.net), and she just sat at the computer for ten minutes, not saying anything. When I asked "Faithie?" she snapped, "Get away from me. I never want to see you again." She thinks I have a future as a porn writter. THANKS, FAITHLESS!  
  
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please, please, please, please leave a review!  
* * * * *  
And a few notes on the Japanese names I picked out, and Japanese phrases I used... Just in case anyone cares.  
(In order of apperance)  
Tensi = Reincarnation  
Oni (from Onizuka) = Demon  
Aki = Fall  
Akuma = Dark Angel, or more acurately, the Devil  
Kage = Darkness  
Ryu = Dragon  
Shiro = White  
Kori = Ice  
Ai shiteru = I love you  
Sakura (Tensi's human first name) = Cherry blossom petals  
Tetsewon (Tensi's human last name) = Mighty  
Kurai Maho = Dark Magic  
Yosei = Fairy  
Omoi = Heavy  
Hyoeyu = Outcast  
* * * * * 


End file.
